Bharti Airtel will continue to use the infrastructure through a long-term lease contract
Bharti Airtel International, a subsidiary of Indian telecom group Bharti Airtel, signed an agreement with towers company Helios Towers Africa to sell approximately 950 telecom towers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The divestment also includes towers currently under construction in the DRC.
Through this agreement, Helios Towers will own 6,500 telecom towers across Africa. The deal will also allow Bharti Airtel to reduce its debt level and its ongoing capital expenditure on passive infrastructure and also mitigate the proliferation of towers through enhanced sharing.
The agreement stipulates Bharti Airtel will have full access to the towers under a long-term lease contract. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
“We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with Helios Towers in Africa,” said Bharti Airtel International Netherlands Chairman Christian De Faria. “The agreement is in line with our stated philosophy of divesting passive infrastructure and promoting sharing of towers to enhance operational efficiencies that will further the growth of telecom services.”
Headquartered in New Delhi, India, Bharti Airtel has operations in 20 markets across Africa and Asia. In India, the telco offers 2G, 3G and LTE wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high-speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH and enterprise services.
TDC posts revenues of $898 million in Q1
In other EMEA news, Danish telecom operator TDC posted 5.827 billion krone ($898 million) in revenues for the first quarter of the year, down from 6.193 billion krone posted in Q1 2015.
Profits for the period increased by 113 million krone to 624 million krone. TDC reported 2.74 million postpaid mobile connections in its home market at the end of the quarter, an increase from the 2.72 million reported in Q1 2015. Broadband connections slumped from 1.318 million at the end of Q1 2015, to 1.293 million connections this year.
