BMI View: IHS Towers and American Tower Corporation’s acquisition of Nigeria’s towers has enabled them to cement their positions as the leading players among Africa’s big four tower firms. If Helios Towers Africa and Eaton Towers cannot outbid their larger rivals for new assets in the remaining attractive markets, they may seek scale through a merger or become acquisition targets.

The first potential tower sale and leaseback in the Middle East was mooted over a year ago, with Zain appointing Citigroup to advise on a potential tower transaction in two Gulf countries in early 2015. Mobily, Etisalat’s operation in Saudi Arabia was next to follow suit, appointing TAP advisors to look into a potential sale of their towers. Fast forward 12 months and Saudi Telecom Company are now joining the party – potentially putting all operator owned towers in Saudi on the market at the same time. TowerXchange take a look at the portfolios potentially for sale, examine the latest developments in the processes and explore who the likely bidders will be.

A roundup of tower news across Central and Latin America

Bolivia had an estimated population of 10.8mn people and 10.4mn mobile subscriptions at the end of 20151, giving a mobile penetration of 96% - the third lowest level of penetration in South America ahead of only Guyana (84%) and Ecuador (80%). Around 90% of subscribers have a pre-paid account, which ranks 2nd highest amongst the South American countries. Guyana ranks the highest with 96% pre-paid subscribers. There are three mobile network operators (MNOs) serving the Bolivian market (See figure 1). The largest operator, Entel, serves 4.9mn subscribers which equates to a market share of 46.9%. The second largest operator by subscriber numbers is Tigo (Millicom) which has 3.1mn subscribers (30.0%) and VIVA, the smallest of the three operators, serves the remaining 2.4mn (23.1%) subscribers.

Highlights from a new white paper released by Kaiser Associates’ telecom practice

A roundup of tower news across SSA and MENA

Algeria had an estimated population of 40.0mn people and 45.4mn mobile subscriptions at the end of 2015, giving a mobile penetration of 113% - the second lowest level of penetration of the six North African countries, only higher than Egypt (101%). Around 90% of subscribers in Algeria have a pre-paid account, which ranks second lowest amongst the North African countries.

Every deal has to make sense

American Tower joins Helios Towers Africa in one of Africa’s most investible tower markets

Insights into the BTS market, and the realities of site acquisition and permitting in Brazil

High Efficiency Gensets deliver 60% opex savings, available through capex or opex business models

Data is the key to productivity