Bharti Airtel | From The Times of India

Bharti Airtel Africa on Thursday said it will sell 950 mobile towers in Congo to telecom infrastructure company Helios Towers Africa (HTA) but did not disclose the deal size.

“The agreement is in line with our stated philosophy of divesting passive infrastructure and promoting sharing of towers to enhance operational efficiencies. Airtel remains committed to DRC and will continue to invest in its operations,” Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN) executive chairman Christian De Faria said in a statement.

The divestment under the agreement between the two companies also includes towers currently under construction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal will significantly reduce Airtel’s capital expenditure on passive infrastructure and also mitigate the proliferation of towers through enhanced sharing, the statement said.

With this deal, Airtel will complete the sale worth over $2.5 billion of mobile tower assets in Africa. The net debt of the company stood at Rs 83,888 crore as on March 31. Bharti Airtel has decided to exit the tower business in Africa where it had around 14,000 towers.

Read more at The Times of India