Airtel Africa Sells Towers in Tanzania For $175m

Airtel Africa PLC said on Wednesday that it has agreed to sell Airtel Tanzania's tower operations for about $175 million.

The U.K.-listed, Africa-focused telecommunications operator said this is the latest strategic divestment of its tower portfolio as part of its shift to an asset-light business model focused on its core subscription services like voice and data packages.

The company made the announcement via a corporate disclosure, stating that it was selling to a joint venture company owned by a subsidiary of SBA Communications Corp and Paradigm Infrastructure.

Airtel Africa said its Tanzania tower portfolio comprises around 1,400 towers and that its Tanzania subsidiary will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under a lease agreement with the new owner of the infrastructure.

Around $60m from the proceeds will be used to invest in network and sales infrastructure in Tanzania and for distribution to the Government of Tanzania. The balance of the proceeds will be used to reduce debt at group level, Airtel said.