African telecom operator Eaton Towers has emnarked on an expansion plan and so far has earmarked $350m for the purpose while at the same time signing a deal to buy 2000 towers from Egypt’s Mobinil.
Avccording to Ventures Africa, the expansion was through the Capital Group Private Markets, Eaton’s controlling shareholder, and a consortium led by Ethos Private Equity and Standard Chartered Private Equity.
“Five or six years ago there was a reluctance, but I think that the increased load on the networks,” said Mr Terry Rhodes, Eaton Towers’ CEO as he explained how they managed to convince network operators to share fixed assets.
“As more customers come on, want more services and particularly more data, then networks need to do more to cut their costs and focus on their services. They’ve all agreed that sharing their towers is a good way to go. We’ve signed other deals in West and East Africa which will be concluded soon.”
Mobile use in Africa has been steadily growing buoyed by steady economic growth, increasing affordability of mobile devices, as well as the death of landlines.