IHS Towers

IHS Towers is one the largest telecommunications infrastructure providers in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East by tower count and the third largest independent multinational tower company globally.[1][2][3]

IHS Towers
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded2001 (2001)
FounderSam Darwish
Area served
Africa, Latin America, Middle East
Websiteihstowers.com

Operations

Founded by Sam Darwish in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2001, IHS is a company specializing in building and operating telecommunication infrastructure throughout emerging markets. Following the completion of a sale and lease back agreement with the mobile network operator Zain in Kuwait, and the acquisition of Cell Site Solutions in February 2020, IHS Towers operates across three continents as one of the world’s fastest growing tower operators, owning and managing over 27,000 towers in nine countries: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia - Africa; Brazil, Colombia, Peru – Latin America; and Kuwait – Middle East.[1][4][5][6][7][8]

IHS operates six business models: building its own tower sites and leasing them to operators; acquiring existing MNO sites and leasing tower space back; taking over the management of operators networks with an agreement to lease the sites to other operators: inbuilding solutions and Distributed Antenna System (DAS); Small Cell and Fiber to the Tower.[9][10][11]

Some of the MNOs that IHS works with include: MTN, Orange , Airtel , Etisalat, Millicom, Zain and Vivo.[1][3][12][13]

IHS is heavily involved in bringing broadband internet to the whole of Africa.[14] IHS partners with startup telecom companies such as Spectranet and Smile to help finance the deployment of their network into urban areas.

Aside from its founding partners, UBC, IHS is supported by a group of international shareholders including Emerging Capital Partners, the International Finance Corporation, Wendel, Goldman Sachs, African Infrastructure Investment Managers, Investec, the IFC’s Global Infrastructure Fund, the Dutch development finance institution (FMO) and the Korea Investment Corporation and Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC.[15][16][17][18]

IHS has also launched a variety of green energy projects in the five African countries in which it operates.[19] It currently employs close to 40,000 people, 95% of whom live in the communities in which they operate.[20][21]

Competitors

IHS competitors in Africa include Helios Towers, American Tower Corporation.

References
  1. "Zain Kuwait closes US$130mn sale and leaseback deal with IHS Towers". TowerXchange. February 14, 2020.
  2. Smith, Matt. "Africa phone tower firm IHS raises $2.6 billion", Reuters, 3 November 2014. Accessed 16 July 2015.
  3. "Kuwait's Zain inks $165m mobile towers deal". Arabian Business. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  4. "Nigeria's IHS Towers acquires Brazil's Cell Site Solutions from Goldman Sachs". Nairametrics. December 24, 2019.
  5. Nsehe, Mfonobong. "Nigerian Multi-Millionaire Tycoon Issam Darwish Raises $2.6 Billion For Telecom Towers", Forbes, 11 March 2014. Accessed 13 August 2015
  6. "IHS Towers prepares to IPO". TowerXchange. August 26, 2020.
  7. Thomson, Amy; Spillane, Chritospher. "IHS Said to Pay About $2 Billion for MTN Towers in Nigeria", Bloomberg, 4 September 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  8. "Top 141 towercos and infracos worldwide, by estimated tower count", TowerXchange, June 2015. Accessed 13 August 2015.
  9. "Africa's largest tower company eyes Gulf for growth". Arabian Business. April 4, 2019.
  10. "MTN expands scope of tower service, targets rural connectivity". Nairametrics. July 24, 2020.
  11. "Adapting to our region", IHS Towers. Accessed 13 August 2015.
  12. "Orange and IHS sign tower leasing agreement to improve mobile networks in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon" (Press Release). London, Paris: Orange, IHS Towers. 2 April 2013. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  13. Clark, Simon. "IHS Buys Airtel’s Mobile Phone Towers in Zambia and Rwanda", The Wall Street Journal, 14 December 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  14. Adeptun, Adeyemi. "InfraCos to connect Lagos, 60 cities with broadband", The Guardian Nigeria, 8 April 2015. Accessed 13 August 2015.
  15. "Deal: MTN Says It'll Swap 51% Of Its interest In Nigeria Tower For Additional Stake In IHS". Nairametrics. February 2, 2017.
  16. Smith, Matt. "Africa phone tower firm IHS raises $2.6 billion", Reuters, 3 November 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  17. Blas, Javier. "Goldman Sachs joins scramble for African mobile telecoms", The Financial Times, 2 March 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  18. Rice, Xan. "IHS: Local knowledge is important in fulfilling towering ambitions", The Financial Times, 27 November 2012. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  19. International Finance Corporation; GSMA. "Tower Power Africa: Energy Challenges and Opportunities for the Mobile Industry in Africa"[PDF], November 2014. Accessed July 17 2015.
  20. "Africa's largest tower company eyes Gulf for growth". Arabian Business. April 4, 2019.
  21. "IHS and HTN towers announce business combination", Vanguard News, 10 March 2016. Accessed 2 August 2016.
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