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American Tower Corp To Buy Bharti Airtel’s Masts In Tanzania For $179M

American Tower Corp To Buy Bharti Airtel’s Masts In Tanzania For $179M

Boston-based American Tower Corp. has announced that it will buy 1,350 communication masts in Tanzania from Bharti Airtel for a total $179 million.

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading owner, operator and developer of communications real estate with a portfolio of approximately 97,000 communications sites

“We are extremely pleased to announce our entry into Tanzania and expand our partnership with Airtel, one of the world’s leading multinational network operators,” Hal Hess, EVP and President, EMEA, of American Tower, said in a statement.

“With a young, growing population, tremendous growth potential and a complementary location relative to our existing African operations, we view Tanzania as a highly attractive adjacent market opportunity.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close during the first half of this year. Financial terms were not disclosed in that statement.

Under the deal, American Tower also has an option to pay extra to acquire another 100 sites currently in development.

Bharti Airtel, one of the leading telecom service providers in Africa, is in the middle of a years-long process of selling tower assets in 13 African countries to various companies.

In July 2015, the telco raised US$1.3 billion from the sale of towers in five markets. That announcement came days after Bharti completed the sale of 4,700 towers in Nigeria to American Tower.

“We are extremely pleased to announce our entry into Tanzania and expand our partnership with Airtel,” said Hal Hess, EMEA president of American Tower. “With a young, growing population, tremendous growth potential and a complementary location relative to our existing African operations, we view Tanzania as a highly-attractive adjacent market opportunity.”