Bharti Airtel has said it is no longer selling more than 3,500 towers it owns in six African countries, claiming that the deal has broken down.
It would be recalled that in June, Innovation Village reported that the company cancelled the sale of its towers in Chad and Tanzania, claiming the sale lapsed and has been terminated.
This particular cancelled sale was agreed in September 2014, when the firm announced that it would sell the towers to Eaton Towers and had a 10-year lease-back agreement with the tower operator. About a month ago, both two companies were confident the deal would be consummated.
Eaton Towers currently owns and operates towers in Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. The deal would have expanded its coverage in Africa to 7 countries with over 5,000 towers
In a stock market statement, the company said that the agreements between Bharti Airtel Malawi Holdings B.V. and Eaton Towers (Lilongwe) has lapsed and therefore stands terminated. No other details were disclosed.
Airtel has already sold its towers in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Congo Brazzaville for USD1.3 billion.
The network sold its towers in Nigeria to American Tower Corporation (ATC) in a deal estimated to be worth $1 billion; it also divested its some of its tower assets to Helios Towers Africa.
