Airtel To Sell And Lease Back Over 3500 Towers To Eaton In 6 Countries Across Its African Operations

In the new partnership, Airtel will sell and lease back over 3500 towers to Eaton in 6 countries across its African operations under a 10-year contract. This will help Eaton Towers’ coverage in Africa to reach 7 countries with over 5000 towers. This move will drive cost efficiencies throughout the industry via the use of shared passive infrastructure. The agreements will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, enable it to deleverage through debt reduction, and will significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditure on passive infrastructure. For Eaton Towers, the acquisition is a major step towards the scale needed to provide shared telecoms infrastructure solutions, with its customers benefiting from lower operating costs, expanded network coverage and capacity and improved quality of service. The agreements are subject to statutory and regulatory approvals in the respective countries. Commenting on the development, Manoj Kohli, Chairman, Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN), said: Alan Harper, CEO of Eaton Towers added: “This is a transformational deal which gives Eaton Towers the most diversified tower portfolio across Africa. We are proud to be chosen by Airtel as their key partner in these 6 countries.”