There are three MNOs (Airtel, Maroc Telecom and Sotel) and approximately 1,500 towers in Chad, a country where just 26% of its geography has mobilecoverage, 65% population coverage and mobile penetration under 50%.
Tigo sold their Opco to Maroc Telecom in July 2019. Plans by Helios Towers to acquire Airtel’s 539 towers were announced at the end of March 2021, alongside plans to buy towers in Malawi, Madagascar and Gabon.
However, the deal was allowed to lapse due to regulatory difficulties in the market. Only one towerco licence has been issued in Chad, to Amane Towers, and Helios Towers was not able to secure another licence.
This is the second time Helios Towers has abandoned plans to purchase towers in Chad following the withdrawal of the last potential deal in 2015.
MNO network expansion has been very limited due to the high rate of fines imposed on operators as a result
of poor coverage, totalling US$12mn, with MNOs being unable to meet their mandated SLAs.
BTS is very limited, with Amane Towers delivering around 50-100 new sites and Airtel commissioning 250 rural towers by 2024. The regulator is issuing coverage obligations fines to operators in Chad which is leading to an increase in the construction of new sites to increase population and geographic coverage.
Chad has one the lowest electricity access rates in the world at just 6.4%. The government, with funding from the World Bank, hopes to achieve 53% access by 2023, but the vast majority of sites remain off-grid.
Amane Towers is working on an ESCO deal with Airtel Chad to provide a 100% solarized network on 1,000 sites over 5 years, with the potential to extend into a full sale leaseback in future.
