Tigo dishes out 80m/- to Kilimanjaro Marathon

THE Kilimanjaro Marathon for the first time will see Tigo Tanzania partnering with other companies to hold the internationally-recognised charity event that seeks to raise funds for good causes, such as environmental conservation around Mt. Kilimanjaro.

According to a statement made available to the ‘Daily News’, the telecommunications company will be sponsoring the Tigo Kili Half- Marathon, a 21- kilometre race, on March 1 and pledged to commit over 80m/- to the major event.

“Tigo’s spirit of participation in this event is borne out of commitment to the development of sports and every aspect of the social and economic of this country, including environmental conservation,” the newly appointed Tigo Tanzania Interim General Manager, Cecile Tiano, said in the statement.

Tiano said that Tigo recognised the ‘northern zone’ as a commercial and tourist hub in addition to being a gateway to other countries and has targeted the zone its investment commitment.

The northern zone which comprises Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Singida and Dodoma regions has, according to Tiano, been a major beneficiary of Tigo’s sponsorships and corporate responsibility initiatives which seek to directly turn around the social welfare of the people in the areas of education, health, environment, entrepreneurship, job creation, arts and sports.

“Through our initiatives such as the Tigo Ngorongoro Run held every year in Karatu, the company, with its partners, has been able to inject and mobilize resources which go into buying mosquito nets that are distributed to schools and buying equipment for hospitals in Karatu district,” she said.

Tiano said that this year they plan to set up over 748 sites countrywide out of which 300 will be in the northern zone (already 334 towers exists) in a bid to ensure that residents of every village in the five regions get connected to their services.

At an average cost of 100,000 US dollars per site, this translates to investing over 75 million US dollars in the country with 30 million US dollars going into the five regions, Tiano said.

“This means giving more people new social and economic opportunities, integrating them to the global economy through internet access and, in the process, enabling them to embrace a digital lifestyle,” she remarked.

In the past two years, Tigo has been investing an average of two million US dollars per week on its infrastructure countrywide.

This investment has been put into expanding its networks by building new sites, even in the remotest villages, upgrading its network to 3G to enable people access data, training their workforce and giving back to communities through their corporate responsibility programmes.

Source:DailyNews

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We are far away from bankruptcy, says TTCL

TANZANIA Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) said on Thursday it is far away from insolvency because its main business is expected to increase by 50 per cent this year.

TTCL’s main business is networking firms via broadband, internet bandwidth and wholesale administration and said it has so far signed projects worth 15bn/- this year. Last year it had projects worth 10bn/-.

The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, said the contracts at hand involved only corporate clients, while there was a lot expected this year.

“Though we (TTCL) are facing financial challenges but the business ahead is very promising and we are far from liquidation,” Dr Kazaura told the ‘Daily News’ during the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) fibre cable project handover.

The CEO said the issue of bankruptcy was the result of poor interpretation and analysis of TTCL monetary state of affairs, but the firm’s operations are ‘sound.’

“Currently, we are in discussions with the government to turn what they owe us into capital,” Dr Kazaura said. He did not go into details.

TTCL, which handles the national fibre-optic cable network also termed as the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), said currently all Tanzania’s neighbours were at their subscription docket.

TTCL’s Chief of Sales and Marketing, Mr Peter Ngota, said by July the firm will start offering mobile phone services using 3G and 4G’s network.

“Previously we concentrated on corporate customers but come July we want to offer 100 per cent mobile services in the country,’ Mr Ngota said.

He said TTCL will use satellite in the areas where tele-signal are weak as a measure to assure superior quality and efficiency to its customers countrywide.

Last week, TTCL signed a 182-million US dollars deal with Chinese’s Huawei Technologies to upgrade and expand its fixed and wireless networks.

Under the terms of the contract - the first phase of which is expected to conclude in June where Huawei will upgrade the TTCL’s 2G and 3G networks and also deploy 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

The agreement will also see Huawei deploy networks in rural areas in line with a Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF) contract won by TTCL in February 2014.

Through the NICTBB, Tanzania has been connected with East Africa’s submarine cable networks including SEACOM, EASSY and SEAS.

TTCL connects Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi through fire optical cable. At the moment, TTCL is supplying 1.0 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda, the 10 year deal worth 6.7-million US dollars.

Meanwhile, Dr Kamugisha said they have reconnected the local government optical cable network after an agreement with the government over the mode of payment which he did want to disclose.

Source:Dailynews

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Africa’s mobile users to hit half a billion

There will be over half a billion mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa in the next six years, according to this year’s GSMA Intelligence report.

The region remains the fastest growing in mobile telephony subscription, a trend attributed to its robust economic growth and the increasing affordability of mobile phone services.

By mid this year, there were 329 million unique subscribers representing a penetration rate of 38 per cent. Further, there were over 600 million SIM connections equivalent to a penetration rate of 68 per cent in the region as consumers and businesses increasingly use mobile use beyond communication.

This number is set to rise at a compound annual growth rate of seven per cent to reach just over half a billion in 2020.

Mobile phone firms have also deployed more 3G connections that accounted for only 15 per cent of the total base in 2013 and are expected to rise to over half by 2020, making the region among the largest in terms of 3G connections only behind the highly populated Asia-Pacific region.

The rise in 3G connections largely reflects the accelerating rate of smartphone use. Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to witness the highest growth of any region in terms of the number of smartphone connections (between 72 and 525 million) over the next six years. This means over half of the total connection then will be on smartphones.

The growing adoption of smartphones along with other data-capable devices such as tablets is in turn driving an explosion in data traffic.

The region’s mobile data traffic is forecast to record a 20-fold increase from 2013 to 2019, about twice the global growth rate.

This upswing is expected to push up revenue for the mobile companies across the region. The firms have already seen strong jump in revenues in the last few years, driven in particular by an increase in the number of connections and subscriber base.

Revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate of 7 per cent yearly between 2008 and 2013. The growth rates are however set to slow slightly going forward, but increasing data traffic will see revenue growth remain at a healthy 5.6 per cent up to 2020.

This calls for more investments in the network capacity to cope with the expected growth in data traffic, as well as increase in 3G coverage.

In 2013, the mobile industry contributed 5.4 per cent to overall gross domestic product in the region, and this is forecast to increase to 6.2 per cent by 2020.

The mobile industry is also a significant source of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa directly employing nearly 2.4 million people. This is also expected to increase to around 3.5 million by 2020.

The industry also makes a very large contribution to the funding of the public sector in the form of general taxation ($13 billion in 2013), and through further payments in the form of licence as well as regulatory fees and spectrum auctions.

Despite the progress to date, there remains a significant proportion of the population in the region who do not have access to the internet.

At the end of 2013, there were almost 150 million individuals using mobile devices to access the internet in sub-Saharan Africa. This is equivalent to an overall mobile internet penetration rate of only 17 per cent of the total population, compared to a global average of just over 30 per cent.

This figure will more than double by 2020, reaching 38 per cent, with an additional 240 million people across the region gaining mobile internet access by that date.

There are a number of barriers to extending mobile internet access in sub-Saharan Africa, with affordability and network coverage in rural areas being key challenges given high levels of poverty.

More than 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas.

Telcoms, governments, regulators and other entities all have a role to play in addressing these barriers. Allowing commercially-agreed network sharing and ensuring timely release of digital dividend spectrum will be key in enabling growth of network coverage.

Source:Dailynation

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Tigo Pesa users in Tanzania receive $1.8m profit

Telecoms company Tigo today announced its Tigo Pesa mobile money customers would receive the first of its regular quarterly payments worth US$1.8 million.

Three months ago Tigo paid a profit of US$ 8.64 million accumulated in the Tigo Pesa Trust Account and became the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users.

Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez said “This second round of profit disbursement shows the company’s continued commitment to benefit and improve the lives of Tanzanians. The payment goes to all Tigo Pesa users including super agents, retail agents and individual users of the service.

“The first payment was bigger due to the fact that the profit had been accumulated over a period of three and a half years. This second payment is the profit accumulated from funds held in trust in commercial banks for three months in the quarter July to September 2014.”

Tigo Pesa has a subscriber base of 3.6 million customers and the average return to a customer will vary based on their average daily balance in their Tigo Pesa e-wallet. This applies to super-agents, retail agents and individual customers.

It also announced next installment for the quarter of October to December 2014 will be paid out in February 2015.

Source:humanipo

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Ghana to abolish taxes on imported smartphones by 2015

The Ghanaian government has announced it would abolish taxes on all imported smartphones by next. This development was announced by the government through the 2015 budget.

The government said it realised that although Ghana has high mobile phone penetration, smartphones only represent 15%.

“Communication is shifting from voice to data and mobile data is projected to grow 6.3 times between 2013 and 2018. It is being proposed that in order to increase smartphone penetration, and in line with Government’s policy of bridging the digital divide within the country, import duties on smartphones will be removed. It is expected that the increase in smartphone penetration will increase revenue from Communication Service Tax, VAT and corporate taxes,” the government stated in the budget.

Sonia Jorge, Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4Ai) while commending the government of Ghana for the decision said removing import taxes is a key first step towards getting every Ghanaian online. The issue of mobile phone tax was among the topics discussed at A4AI’s first in-country engagement held in Ghana.

“Taxes make up more than a third of the cost of a smartphone in Ghana, and as a result only about 15% of the population currently have one. It’s worth noting that when Kenya scrapped VAT on handsets in 2009, devices in circulation quadrupled and overall mobile penetration rose from 50% to more than 70%. We hope to see similar results in Ghana,” Jorge said.

In an exclusive interview with HumanIPO, she said the aim of A4AI is to bring outdated policy and regulatory frameworks into the digital age by working directly with national governments and a wide range of key stakeholders.

Following the introduction of the tax, HumanIPO reported the Concerned Mobile Phone and Accessories Dealers group had closed their shops in protest against the tax which has previously been welcomed by native manufacturers such as Rlg Communications. Ghana’s Association of Independent Mobile Phone and Credit Dealers (ASIMODE) also warned the introduction of the 20% tax on imported devices would have a direct repercussion on the businesses of its members.

source:humanipo

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Mobile subscribers in Africa set to hit one billion – Ericsson

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report launched yesterday (Wednesday) revealed that proliferation of mobile technology continues to grow at a rapid pace. According to the report, Africa has topped 880 million in mobile subscriptions for Q3 2014, whilst 90 per cent of the world’s population over six years old is predicted to have a mobile phone by 2020.

By 2020 smartphone subscriptions are forecast to top 6.1 billion. Ericsson also predicts that 85 percent of Middle East and Africa mobile subscriptions will be 3G/4G by 2020.

“Despite this increased rate of sales, which will see the addition of an estimated 800 million new smartphone subscriptions by the end of 2014, the report finds there is still plenty of room for growth in the sector. Smartphones currently account for just 37 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions, meaning that many users have yet to make the switch to the more feature-rich, internet-friendly option,” Ericsson said in a statement.

Fredrik Jejdling, President & Regional Head of Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa said: “The increased availability of low-cost smartphones in sub-Saharan Africa will lead to a rapid increase of  smartphone subscriptions in the region.However, GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions will remain the most common subscription type for the next five years due to the high numbers of lower income consumers using2G-enabled handsets.”

Source:humanipo

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Mobile industry has transformed millions of lives across Africa – GSMA

Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA has said the mobile industry has transformed the lives of millions of people across Sub-Saharan Africa. Bouverot said this while commenting on ‘Mobile Economy 2014: Sub-Saharan Africa’, the new GSMA report released at the Mobile 360-Africa event in Cape Town, South Africa.

“The mobile industry has transformed the lives of millions of people across Sub-Saharan Africa, providing not just connectivity but also an essential gateway to a wide range of healthcare, education and financial services,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA.

According to the DG, over the next years, Africa will record millions of new subscribers.

“As today’s report shows, millions of additional citizens in the region will become mobile subscribers over the next six years, with many being able to access the internet for the first time via low-cost smartphones and mobile broadband networks. Operators and other ecosystem players, as well as governments and regulators, all have a role to play in ensuring that affordable mobile services can be extended across the region,” said Bouverot.

According to GSMA, over the last five years, Africa has been the world’s fastest-growing mobile region in terms of both unique mobile subscribers and mobile connections, and is forecast to continue to lead global growth through 2020. It said unique mobile subscriber penetration as a percentage of the region’s population is forecast to rise to 49 per cent by this point.

Source:humanipo

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Smart Telecom enters crowded Tanzanian mobile market

Smart Telecom, which is owned by Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the Kenyan-based infrastructure and industrial development arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), has announced the launch of a mobile network operating subsidiary in Tanzania. 

The launch coincides with the introduction of a sister company, also called Smart Telecom, in neighbouring Uganda, which was revealed last month. AKFED is also launching the new Smart Telecom brand in Burundi, and has earmarked investment of USD300 million across the three East African markets, offering mobile voice and internet services, with the stated aim to bring ‘improved service, value and coverage’ to all three countries. 

TeleGeography notes that AKFED’s telecoms investment partner, the Cypriot-based, Russian-owned Timeturns Holdings, is the backer of existing TanzanianCDMA operator Benson Informatics (BOL), holding a full national mobile licence, while the Ugandan branch of Smart Telecom acquired its licences via start-up Sure Telecom (Uganda), which was previously solely owned by Timeturns. Similarly, the launch of Smart Telecom (Burundi) has been achieved via the AKFED/Timeturns partnership, with a relaunch of Timeturn’s existing mobile subsidiary Lacell (Smart Mobile).

Smart Tanzania has marketed its introductory services with a banner saying ‘pay TZS79 (USD0.0484) for every on-net call’. Its standard call rates are advertised on its website as ‘on-net TZS2.8 per second / off-net TZS4.1 per second’, while it offers choices of daily, weekly and monthly service bundles including voice, SMS and data – including a month’s unlimited mobile internet usage for TZS20,000 (USD12.24). The website also promises mobile money services will be made available on the Smart Tanzania network.

The Tanzanian wireless market is already home to five full fledged cellular mobile operators: Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel and Tanzania Telecommunication Company Ltd (TTCL), while TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that Smile Communications operates 4G TD-LTE wireless broadband services in the country, alongside CDMA fixed-wireless voice/data network operators BOL (see above) and Sasatel, and there are four other licensees – MyCell, EGOTEL, 4G Mobile and Telesis – holding technology-neutral network operating concessions via which they intend to provide wireless data-focused services (based on CDMA, W-CDMA, mobile WiMAX and LTE, respectively). Another mobile licensee, Rural Netco, has deployed UMTS-900 infrastructure for wholesale-only services, GlobalComms adds.

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CRDB Bank upgrades SIM banking

IN a bid to provide efficient and secure services, CRDB Bank has further improved its SIM Banking to accommodate new features that give customers the conveniences to perform more transactions at any location in the world.

Mobile phones have clearly shown that they can be an effective channel to provide financial services including remittances, savings or even loans.

So, banks have an opportunity to utilise mobile phones to reach out to their customers. This was unveiled at the weekend by the CRDB Bank Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei, at a news conference on improvement made on SIM Banking.

"CRDB Bank is always seeking to create easy and less cost accessibility to the banking services to its customers," he said, adding this is why the bank is incorporating its services with the fast changing mobile money technology which is the future of the banking sector.

Dr Kimei urged its customers to register with the SIM Banking established in 2008, which gives them best and different options of performing bank transactions at any location.

Currently, over 300,000 CRDB Bank customers are using SIM Banking in its database with over one million customers.

According to Finscope 2013 report, more than 30 million Tanzanians own or use mobile phone but only 12 million use the cellphones to perform money transactions.

Statistics reveal further that the bankable population is around 17 per cent of the 45 million total population. The data offers the banking sector with the huge opportunity to spread its services to the unbankable population in rural areas, thus complimenting the government initiative of financial inclusion.

The CRDB Manager Electronic Banking, Mr Mangire Kibanda, said the bank has simplified the SIM Banking registration where customers register for themselves without visiting the bank branches.

SIM Banking present customers with an easy, hassle-free and convenient way to pay your bills like electricity, water, and airtime. Some of the companies incorporated into the SIM Banking include Dawasco, Moruwasa and Startimes. Also, money transactions through M-PESA and TIGO-Pesa.

The CRDB Director of Risk and Compliance, Mr James Mabura, cautioned customers to avoid disclosing the bank account particulars to people or hackers, who present themselves as CRDB staff having an ill will to steal their money.

Also, he urged customers to keep secure their pin number which are used in performing ATM and mobile money transactions.

Source:Dailynews

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Rural telecom infrastructure plan for completion next year

RURAL settlements without infrastructure for telephone communications will have the essential service by October next year, the National Assembly was told.

Deputy Minister for Communications, Science and Technology, January Makamba, said the government was determined to ensure that the entire country had access to reliable communication service by next year.

Responding to a question by Lulindi member of parliament Jerome Bwanausi (CCM), Mr Makamba however decried lack of infrastructure such as roads and electricity, as well as budgetary deficit to fund the projects.

He said the government through the Universal Communications Services Access Fund (UCAF) has already identified villages in Chiwata, Mkundi, Mkululu, Sindano, Chikolopola, Mnavira, Lipumburu, Mkonona, Namatutwe and Mpindimbi wards in Masasi district as the needy areas for the service.

The deputy minister said hitherto six wards had been assigned contractors and that the government planned to have wards accessing communications by February 2015.

He further said that the government was working out a comprehensive plan to provide communications services to the country’s border areas which had no communication service, saying Mchauru, Mnavira and Chikolopola wards would be among the plan’s beneficiaries.

The legislator, in his question, had sought to know when the wards in his constituency would have communications services.

Meanwhile, Mr Makamba has said that the government has, through UCAF, identified Ufuluma, Mabana, Imangulu, Ibiri, Ikangolo and Isikizya wards for communication services under the second phase of the project.

Answering a question by Shaffin Sumar (Tabora North –CCM) who wanted to know the progress of UCAF projects in wards, Mr Makamba said the government was encouraging mobile service providers to extend their services to areas that remained disconnected from communications services.

Source:Dailynews

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Safaricom allows instantaneous mobile banking on M-Pesa

Leading Kenya operator Safaricom has upgraded the M-Pesa Application Programme Interface (API), making it possible for customers to make mobile banking transactions instantaneously.

The API, which previously allowed for an average transaction time of two hours, has been adjusted to allow them to take place in less than 30 seconds.

Safaricom said it is projected the move will work towards a cash-lite society through a more effective mobile-banking proposition, while also helping in streamlining operations for businesses that disburse staff salaries or receive payments through M-Pesa and require to move cash to bank accounts on a regular basis.

“Innovation is a continuous process at Safaricom and that is why we have been seeking ways to deliver services to customers with speed and efficiency. Twelve leading banks and 26 SACCOs have already migrated to the new platform and migration is on-going for 30 other institutions,” said Safaricom chief executive officer (CEO) Bob Collymore.

Safaricom’s general manager for financial services Betty Mwangi-Thuo said: “The growth of mobile banking is being fuelled by our customers’ desire for more convenience and greater efficiency. The advent of M-Pesa provided Kenyans with an unprecedented degree of financial liberation and the pressure is therefore on us to stay ahead of the market by continuously coming up with innovations that respond to or predict market needs.”

Source:humanipo

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Vodacom Tanzania,Thousand's reached by telecoms in Bukuba

Kigoma, Over 17,000 citizens of Bukuka village, Buhigwe district in Kigoma region will now enjoy telecommunications services following the network expansion done by Vodacom Tanzania last weekend.

Launching of the services in that village will provide ample opportunities to people living on the peripheral of the newly Buhigwe district to improve their lives through development activities such as communication, business and the state of security in the area.

                                                          

Speaking during the launching ceremonies on behalf of Regional Commissioner, the District Commissioner of Buhigwe, Charles Gishuli noted that the telecommunications services in the area is vital due to its geographical area, he hopes to see a great improvement in economic activities in the region such as agriculture, livestock keeping and business.

“Bukuba depends much in business activities whereby it produces bananas and livestock which are traded to people in Tabora and Katavi regions as well as in Burundi. Today is a wonderful day for all of us due to the landing of Vodacom services in our premises, from now on I can see it will be much easier to get information from the market and fellow traders.” Said Gishuli and added that, “It is very risk to conduct business without getting proper information, through communication you will cut down costs of travelling and hence get much profit.”

“We all know that banking systems is a bit challenge in the area something hinders financial transactions but that will be a history with the arriving of Vodacom’s M-Pesa. Estimations indicate that it costs somebody almost TSh. 30,000/- seeking for banks which most of them are located in Kasulu district and Kigoma urban. That huge amount of money is lost every day while it could be useful somewhere else.” Said Gishuli.

The district commissioner explained that being on the boarders of the country the state of security is a matter of great concern.

“Everyone is aware of how security is challenging around this area, I urge you do not hesitate to call me, since we have got communications services please contact me directly whenever you notice something that could harm our safety.” Added Gishuli while announcing his number publicly.

Gishuli concluded by insisting on the importance of communications in strengthening security systems since the authorities will be able to get criminal information or alerts from the people as well as the neighboring countries. He also urged banks to take that opportunity to partner with M-Pesa and expand their activities in rural areas due to the ongoing tremendous growth of economic activities across the country.

On his side Vodacom’s External Public Relations Manager, Salum Mwalim said that the launching of the company’s services in Bukuba village is its continuous network expansion activities to make sure the Tanzanian rural population is covered with communications services.

“We will make sure that all these areas seem to be abandoned are network covered to enhance development activities such as agriculture, livestock keeping and business. There are a lot opportunities from communications services and I hope you will embrace them to improve your lives.”  Said Mwalim and added that, “A few years back people perceived communications to be luxurious activity but now it a must thing that everyone should possess.”

Mwalim finalized by saying “Vodacom will continue to follow the customers wherever they not regarding the distance. Our plans do not only dwell in urban areas but also rural areas because we believe in those areas lies a lot of forgotten opportunities. I urge people of Bukuba to make well use of our services to improve your earnings as well as be part of developing our country economically.”

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Tanzania needs to focus ICT on underserved

As Chinese technology giant Huawei starts rolling out mobile services to rural areas in Zambia, Tanzania’s Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, has asked Tanzania’s mobile operators to roll out mobile communication services to the underserved in rural areas.

Tanzania needs to focus ICT on underserved 

                                                  

According to Mbarawa, some progress has been made, but a lot more needs to be done in order to cover everybody with the latest technology.

“We have tried to convince some of the companies and to some extent, we have succeeded in signing a contract with them under which they will be given subsidy to provide services in rural areas
He highlighted the creation of the Universal Communications Access Fund (UCSAF) with the aim to promote universal access to information and technology services, but explained that more needs to happen on this front.

“It is true that our country has set an example in various issues on technology including national Information Communication Technology (ICT) broadband backbone, still education is needed for community members to understand the importance of such technologies,” Mbarawa explained.
Source:ITnews

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Intel expands Student Partner Programme to Tanzania, Uganda

Intel is expanding its Student Partner Programme to Tanzania and Uganda following the successful launch of the programme in Kenya.

Last year on the launch of the programme, which is aimed at taking into consideration the young workforce which is constantly demanding technological freedom by providing an opportunity for students in Africa to act as liaisons between Intel and their universities.

The Intel partners learn about innovative Intel products and programmes, plan and host events on campus, act as a campus contact for Intel teams and help Intel better understand each university’s culture.

Aspiring participants can apply to be part of the Intel Student Partner Programme by submitting an application before April 31

source:humanipo

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African Mobile Subscription user numbers. Data from 2013

Source: afrographique

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MTN, Orange, Airtel to sell of towers in Nigeria and Tanzania

South Africa’s Vodacom has to date, sold 1 149 mobile network towers to Helios Towers Africa in Tanzania.

According to media reports, MTN plans to sell towers valued at $1 billion in Nigeria, and Bharti of Indiais selling about 15,000 of its towers across 17 countries for about  $2 billion. Orange is said to be looking at selling a number of towers in sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt.

According to Business Day, Bharti’s sale is likely to result in a split of the towers between multiple buyers, one of the people said. Carriers in Africa are offloading their assets, which cost more to run on the continent than in other parts of the world because of the need for backup generators and batteries to guard against power failures.

A representative who wished to remain anonymous, hinted that IHS, American Tower Corporation, Helios Towers and Eaton Towers could be in talks to acquire the assets of MTN and Bharti. ”These companies, backed by cash from wealthy investors including billionaire George Soros and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have bought thousands of towers from carriers in the region in the past two years.” he says.

South Africa’s Vodacom has to date, sold 1 149 mobile network towers to Helios Towers Africa in Tanzania.

source: ITnews

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