The above bar chart shows an aggregation of owned towers AND those managed and marketed by independent towercos in each country of Africa.
NOTE THIS ARTICLE IS NOW OUT OF DATE. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST AFRICAN TOWER MARKET DATA.
Table
The bar chart below presents a count of African towers from a different perspective, differentiating between towers that are owned by independent towercos, shown in solid green, and those that are managed and marketed but not actually owned by the towerco, shown with the green outline filled white.
Towercount_Barchart
Below are the deals to date in Africa:
2010: Millicom/Tigo deal with HTA in Ghana
Estimated number of towers: 750
Publicly stated purchase price: $54m for 60%
Deal structure: Joint venture
2010: Vodafone deal with Eaton in Ghana
Estimated number of towers: 750
Publicly stated purchase price: N/A
Deal structure: Operational lease
2010: Cell C deal with American Tower in South Africa
Estimated number of towers: 1,400 (Cell C deal included 1,400 existing towers plus additional towers under construction)
Publicly stated purchase price: $430m
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2010: MTN deal with American Tower in Ghana
Estimated number of towers: 1,876
Publicly stated purchase price: $218.5m for 51%
Deal structure: Joint venture
2010: Starcomms deal with SWAP in Nigeria
Estimated number of towers: 407
Publicly stated purchase price: $81m
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2010: Millicom/Tigo deal with HTA in DRC
Estimated number of towers: 729
Publicly stated purchase price: $45m for 60%
Deal structure: Joint venture
2011: Millicom/Tigo deal with HTA in Tanzania
Estimated number of towers: 1,020
Publicly stated purchase price: $80m for 60% (Millicom/Tigo’s stake in Helios Towers Tanzania reduced to 24.5% after Helios acquired towers from Vodacom Tanzania in 2013)
Deal structure: Joint venture
2011: MTN deal with American Tower in Uganda
Estimated number of towers: 1,000
Publicly stated purchase price: $89m for 51%
Deal structure: Joint venture
2012: Orange deal with Eaton in Uganda
Estimated number of towers: 300
Publicly stated purchase price: Unknown
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2012: Warid deal with Eaton in Uganda
Estimated number of towers: 400
Publicly stated purchase price: Unknown
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2012: MTN deal with IHS is Cameroon
Estimated number of towers: 827
Publicly stated purchase price: $143m
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2012: MTN deal with IHS in Cote d’Ivoire
Estimated number of towers: 931
Publicly stated purchase price: $141m
Deal structure: Sale and leaseback
2013: Orange deal with IHS in Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire
Estimated number of towers: 2,000+
Publicly stated purchase price: Unknown
Deal structure: Managed services
2013: Vodacom deal with HTA in Tanzania
Estimated number of towers: 1,000+
Publicly stated purchase price: Unknown
Deal structure: Managed services
2013: Vodacom, Tanzania, Towerco: Helios
Estimated number of towers: 1,149
Publicly stated purchase price: "$50-75m for 75.5%"
Deal structure: Joint venture
How TowerXchange tower counts are calculated
Our tower counts are typically obtained by simply asking the CEO of each towerco to confirm how many sites they own and manage and market in each country.
However, these counts should be considered our best estimate as it is impossible to guarantee each towerco has complied exactly with our request to include only active sites, not contracted further BTS sites, and complied with our request that sites that are only managed, not managed and marketing, be excluded from the count.
A note on power pass through contracts
One of the most common questions posed to TowerXchange is whether the cost of power is passed through to the tenant in Africa, a model which is prevalent in India.
In the absence of a power pass through, towercos are incentivised to invest to reduce energy opex. While we’ve received no formal confirmations, TowerXchange understands all the tower deals in Africa do NOT pass through power to the tenant, with the possible exception of American Tower’s deals in Ghana and Uganda with MTN.
