IHS Towers own or manage over half the sites in the country, having acquired sites from MTN and entered into a 15 years Manage with License to Lease (MLL) arrangement with Orange in 2013. Number three MNO, Moov still retains their tower portfolio which numbers about 1,200 sites.
IHS Towers did not announce in their latest financial results the renewing of their MTN MLA, but the group has renewed in their other markets Cameroon and Zambia and IHS told TowerXchange it expects to resign all upcoming MLA renewals.
IHS Towers has invested substantial resources into decommissioning sites and reducing parallel infrastructure. Build-to-suit in the market has been limited with both MTN and Orange resuming site construction themselves.
Camusat’s Aktivco is the only ESCO active in the market working with Orange as well as rural specialist Vanu deploying and managing power for 500 rural sites by 2025, prioritising mobility and autonomous energy usage. IHS Towers is providing power-as-a-service, investing in upgrading energy equipment with over 70%
of its sites now equipped with solar hybrid solutions. Recently three rural specialists have entered the market: AMN is working with Orange and already has sites live and generating revenue. Orange has contracted with US-based wireless solutions provider Vanu to deploy 700 sites (as well as 170 in Burkina Faso and 200 in Liberia), and MTN has inked a deal with NuRAN to deploy 1,000 sites.
In major cities MTN has also begun its 5G deployments, which is seen as a priority for the country prior to the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.
