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Tag: IHS Towers

  • IHS Towers, Nigeria to create learning communities across 36 states

    IHS Towers, Nigeria to create learning communities across 36 states

    The Federal Government of Nigeria through it’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani has announced a partnership with IHS Towers, which pledged N1 billion towards the construction of the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Learning Communities in Nigeria.

    This cooperative endeavour is an essential component of the 3MTT programme that was just recently introduced, and its primary objective is to establish learning communities across all 36 states of Nigeria as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    One of the most notable aspects of this agreement is IHS Towers’ pledge to pay the wages of 37 dedicated learning community managers in each location for the next three years. This represents a significant investment in the field of technology education in Nigeria.

    Bosun Tijani remarked, “Most states will have multiple learning communities which will be self-organizing.”

    This announcement is the first in a series of collaborations that the minister aims to establish. The minister’s primary focus will be on strengthening its 3MTT programme and, more generally, providing support for the Knowledge pillar indicated in its Strategic Blueprint.

    Read also: MTN Nigeria chooses American Towers over IHS Towers after boardroom dispute

    What the partnership with IHS Towers yields

    The collaborative project, which is an essential part of the 3MTT programme that was just recently introduced, is poised to revolutionise the technical education system in Nigeria and perhaps close the skills gap that exists in the country.

    In the realm of technology and digital innovation, Nigeria, like with many other countries in Africa, is struggling with a skills gap. The demand for a workforce that is highly competent in technical areas has never been more vital as a result of the rapid growth of technology and an economy that is becoming increasingly digitally driven. The goal of the partnership that makes up the 3MTT Learning Community is to take this problem on head-on.

    Access will be increased, which will be one of the key ways in which this cooperation will have an effect on technical education. The 3MTT Learning Community has the ambitious goal of establishing learning communities in each of Nigeria’s 36 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This project has the potential to make technical education more available to a wider audience across the country by bringing it closer to students who are interested in pursuing it as a career.

    More on the 3MTT Learning Community

    In addition to ensuring the long-term viability of these learning communities, the cooperation will also create job possibilities for knowledgeable professionals who can instruct and advise students. This is an essential component of the collaboration.

    The 3MTT Learning Community is not only about theory; rather, it is intended to provide participants with opportunities for real, hands-on learning experiences. This helps participants enhance their practical and skill-based knowledge. This strategy is crucial for effectively tackling the skills gap as it now exists. Learners will have the opportunity to work on projects that are based in the real world, which will allow them to get significant experience and build skills that are in demand in today’s technology-driven employment market.

    This alliance is going to empower a new generation of Nigerians who are talented in the field of technology by facilitating this learning community. As a result, this has the potential to foster creativity, propel economic growth, and establish Nigeria as a centre for technical excellence.

    The collaboration between the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy and IHS Towers is not a one-time-only endeavour by any stretch of the imagination. It serves as a template for future partnerships between the government and the business sector to improve technical education by making it more accessible, more practically applicable, and more in line with the requirements of industry.

  • IHS Towers Nigeria supports WATISE 2023 initiative

    IHS Towers Nigeria supports WATISE 2023 initiative

    IHS Towers Nigeria, the leading tower company in Nigeria, has announced that it will be sponsoring the successful hosting of the first regional gathering of stakeholders in the telecoms industry, an initiative that is designed to address issues that are currently being faced by the industry.

    This announcement comes as stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecoms industry prepare for the West Africa Telecoms Infrastructure Summit and Exhibition (WATISE).

    IHS promised to support the event in a letter sent to the Convener of the WATISE. The event has already received support from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the industry regulator for the telecoms industry, and the nod from the industry stakeholder group, the Association Licenced Telecommunications Company of Nigeria. IHS’s support is expected to help the event achieve its goals.

    Read also: IHS Towers records 9% decline in revenue due to naira devaluation

    Comments from IHS Towers

    The company initially started out as a provider of site-build services for mobile network carriers in Nigeria. Since then, they have expanded their expertise to include all elements of telecom towers and have become an industry leader.

    Today, IHS and its subsidiaries in Nigeria manage over 16,700 locations. Although the company’s headquarters are located in Lagos, IHS also maintains regional offices in Abuja, Ibadan, Enugu, Asaba, Kano, and Port Harcourt.

    “We deliver innovative solutions to our customers, including using greenfield and rooftop sites and developing rural telephony projects to connect the most remote communities in Nigeria. We operate two data centres in Lagos and Abuja-enabling us to support our Network Operating Centers with a high-quality IT infrastructure, robust security, and a reliable network.”

    “Across our operations, we share our expert engineering knowledge to bring new, best-in-class solutions. By working collaboratively with our customers, we help them deliver their long-term network strategies, roll out 3G, 4G and 5G, and deepen connectivity in urban and rural settings.”

    MTN Nigeria chooses American Towers over IHS Towers after boardroom dispute

    IHS’s achievements 

    As the demand for connectivity continues to skyrocket, IHS adopted solar and hybrid solutions, and now, it forms a vital element of its portfolio, as shown in our Carbon Reduction Roadmap, a comprehensive approach for cutting emissions. Innovation is at the heart of IHS’s business, and as the demand for connectivity continues to soar, IHS embraced solar and hybrid solutions.

    The company is particularly proud of its innovative Network Operating Centres (NOCs), which provide round-the-clock monitoring, preventative and corrective maintenance of sites, bespoke remote monitoring on most locations, and site acquisition and maintenance teams.

    In the meantime, according to a statement released by the Convener, the events that take place at the Oriental Hotel Lekki Express have been changed to take place during the day and will now take place on October 4, 2023, at nine in the morning.

    Isaiah Erhiawarien, the Convener and country Editor of Technology Mirror, expressed appreciation IHS for backing the first edition, saying that the Lead Keynote address will be delivered by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta while the Lead Presentation will be from the Chairman of the Association Licensed Telecommunications Company of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr Gbenga Adebayo.

    Attendance at the event is anticipated from various key players, including the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani.

    The event, which already has attendees registered from Tunisia, Egypt, and the Republic of Benin, will study the vast investment prospects available in the technology industry to recruit further investors into the sector.

  • MTN Nigeria chooses American Towers over IHS Towers after boardroom dispute

    MTN Nigeria chooses American Towers over IHS Towers after boardroom dispute

    American Tower Corporation is going to take over MTN Group’s Nigerian tower operations from IHS Holding beginning in 2025, according to MTN Group.

    As the lease on around 2,500 of the business’s network sites in its largest market, for which IHS has provided services, will expire in 2024 and 2025, the company stated that it was aggressively renegotiating its tower contracts in Nigeria.

    MTN was able to acquire more than 5,700 of IHS’s tower sites in South Africa after completing a sale-and-leaseback transaction with IHS in the previous year. Since then, the relationship between the two firms has deteriorated, and MTN is currently engaged in a shareholder dispute with the tower firm, in which it has 26% of the shares, over concerns pertaining to governance.

    Read also: IHS Towers records 9% decline in revenue due to naira devaluation

    Details of the dispute between MTN and IHS Towers

    At an annual meeting of the firm in June, a simmering dispute between shareholders of the massive telecoms provider IHS came to a head, escalating into a dramatic confrontation after IHS rejected demands from MTN and another of its main stakeholders.

    IHS is the fourth largest independent international tower firm in the world and the largest provider of telecommunications infrastructure in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East based on the number of towers they operate.

    IHS Towers and its subsidiaries handle about 16,700 sites in the mobile communications market which is the largest in Africa. IHS Towers’ corporate office is located in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria.

    According to a report, the board of directors of IHS rejected the suggestions that were made during Wednesday’s annual meeting. The proposals were made by Wendel SE and MTN Group Ltd., which together own around 45% of the firm. They argued that all shareholders with at least a 10% holding should have the option to propose board members.

    “The proposals requested to be put forward were not in the best interests of the company as a whole or our collective shareholder base,” IHS said in a statement.

    The IHS board came to the conclusion that the plan was crafted with the intention of providing benefits to particular large shareholders at the expense of other owners.

    Both Wendel and MTN have refrained from making any official statements regarding the standoff.

    Following IHS’s stock’s precipitous decline, which resulted in a sixty percent drop in its market value from the company’s first public offering in New York in 2021, some investors are looking to make a switch.

    Tower companies in Africa are having a difficult time keeping up with the increasing demand for investments in their networks to accommodate the growing use of smartphones and broadband internet.

    The two shareholders also claimed that IHS management did not provide timely notice of their proposed resolutions, and they are demanding that the general meeting be reconvened in order to discuss them.

    MTN SA Sold 5,701 Towers Worth $410 million to IHS Towers

    Operation of American Towers in other African countries

    An agreement was reached in 2020 between American Tower and MTN for the latter’s 49% holdings in the company’s joint ventures in Ghana and Uganda to be acquired by American Tower.

    The transaction, which has an estimated value of roughly $523 million and is scheduled to be finalised in the third quarter of 2020, subject to the customary regulatory restrictions, will result in a ‘one-time impact for America Tower’ costing close to $65 million for the year from the payment of previously postponed case interest related to joint venture debt.

    When I spoke to Matthew Edwards, who is the head of research for EMEA at TowerXchange, he stated that the recent news of American Tower buying out MTN’s part in its tower assets sale will mark the end of mobile carriers holding an equity stake in their towercos, since the practise is now dying out in Africa.

    “Although towers are an important operational component of MTN’s business, the investments in existing tower companies have run their course, and realised a healthy return, but are not viewed as long-term strategic holdings for MTN, hence its sale to American Tower,” he added.

    The announcement comes after American Towers successfully completed the acquisition of Eaton Towers Holdings, which would add 5,700 communication sites to its portfolio of properties in Africa. It is estimated that the overall cost of the acquisition, which includes any post-sale modifications and the debt that Eaton Towers already had, was around $1.85 billion.

  • IHS Towers records 9% decline in revenue due to naira devaluation

    IHS Towers records 9% decline in revenue due to naira devaluation

    IHS Towers, the fifth-largest independent TowerCo in the world, reported a loss of $31 million as a result of the depreciation of the naira in June of this year. 

    The corporation has reduced its projections for the amount of money it expects to make this year but will not alter the amount of money it intends to spend. 

    IHS Towers reported a revenue decrease of 9.4% as compared to the first quarter of 2023, following four consecutive quarters of revenue growth. According to IHS, the devaluation of the naira was the cause of the drop in income, which put it $46 million below the revenue it had generated in the previous quarter.

    “Our expectation for revenue would have otherwise increased by $31 million had the average FX rates previously assumed in our guidance remained unchanged,” Sam Darwish, the Chairman and CEO, remarked in a statement.

    “We are encouraged by the recent policy changes implemented in Nigeria that are intended to put the country on a better economic path. In the near-term, however, these changes will cause some anticipated friction, including the significant devaluation of the Nigerian Naira that occurred in mid-June,” the statement read in another part.

    Read also: MTN SA Sold 5,701 Towers Worth $410 million to IHS Towers

    Why the IHS lost

    IHS Towers generated 67% of its income in the second quarter of 2023 from its main market, Nigeria. The telecom infrastructure firm also operates in ten other countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Zambia, Egypt, and Kuwait, which serves as its foothold in the Middle Eastern region.

    The new president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, began implementing reforms in June, which resulted in a rise in both local prices and bank stock prices. The move to relax controls on exchange rates had a negative impact on a number of companies doing business in Nigeria. These companies reported lower revenues as a result of the necessity to restate their numbers so that they would be consistent with the newly regulated floating naira-dollar rates.

    MTN Nigeria, IHS Towers’ largest customer in its largest market, also recorded a foreign exchange loss in its 2023 second-quarter report, which brought down profits for the time by 64%. This caused IHS Towers to lose 64% of its revenue during the period. IHS Towers and MTN Group are currently engaged in a heated boardroom battle over MTN’s demand for a greater degree of control over the tower company. Although it has a 26% stake in Towerco, MTN Group only has a 20% voting share in the company.

    Towerco was able to cut its debt by $155 million as a result of the devaluation of the naira, therefore, not all of the news was negative for the company. On the other hand, as a direct result of the devaluation, the cash available to the corporation was cut by 19 million dollars. 

    IHS does a quarterly assessment and reset of the exchange rates. By the end of the year, the organisation anticipates having a better understanding of how the naira’s devaluation has played out.

     

    About IHS

    IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world based on the number of towers that it owns and operates. Additionally, IHS Towers is one of the major independent international towercos that is completely focused on emerging countries. 

    In its 11 markets, the company has almost 40,000 towers, which are located in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kuwait, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia respectively. For additional details, please contact us by e-mail at communications@ihstowers.com or go to our website at www.ihstowers.com.