Airtel's tower sale deal in Africa falls through

Bharti Airtel said its agreement with Helios Towers Africa for sale of its tower assets in Tanzania and Tchad stands terminated.

The company in July last year signed a deal with Helios Towers Africa (HTA) for sale of 3,100 towers in four countries across its African operations, which span across 17 nations.

The company had not mentioned names of the countries but sources had said the deal was signed for Tanzania, Tchad, Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Now the deal with Tanzania and Tchad stands terminated, the agreement with HTA for Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo is still intact, sources said.

In a filing to the BSE, Airtel said, "... the agreements for sale of tower assets in Tanzania and Tchad between the respective subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel Limited and Helios Towers Africa have lapsed and therefore stands terminated." Apart from deal with HTA, Airtel had last year signed agreements with Eaton Towers for divestment of over 3,500 towers in six African countries.

The company had also entered into an agreement with IHS Holding Limited for sale and lease back over 1,100 towers in Zambia and Rwanda and sale of over 4,800 towers in Nigeria to American Tower Corporation.

Airtel initially had about 15,000 mobile towers across Africa. Airtel has operations in 17 African countries.