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Bharti Airtel Ltd has agreed to sell more than 4,800 mobile phone masts in Nigeria to American Tower Corp (ATC) for US$1.05bn

ATC is one of the largest independent tower companies that owns over 70,000 towers across the globe. In a statement issued by Bharti Airtel, the company has agreed to be the anchor tenant on the masts sold to ATC initially for 10 years.

“The agreement will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, enable it to de-leverage through debt reduction and will significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditures on passive infrastructure in Nigeria,” a statement from Airtel said.

ATC and Bharti Airtel plan to close the deal in the first half of 2015, stated a report in Reuters.

Mobile operators in Africa such as Bharti Airtel have been selling masts to specialist tower firms and leasing them back in order to reduce maintenance costs, added the report. The deal with ATC follows Bharti Airtel’s agreement worth US$800mn to sell 3,500 mobile phone masts in six African nations to Eaton Towers. In July 2014, the Indian telecom company agreed to sell 3,100 masts in four African countries to Helios Towers Africa.

 

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Airtel and Helios Towers Africa to divest nearly 3,100 telecom towers

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