Africa News

MTN joint venture in Uganda

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:15

American Tower Corporation and MTN Group Limited are to establish a new joint venture tower company in Uganda (ACT Uganda) which will acquire all of the existing tower sites from MTN Group’s operating subsidiary in Uganda (MTN Uganda), numbering approximately 1,000, for approximately $75m.

ATC Uganda will be managed by American Tower, and will be controlled by a holding company of which American Tower will hold a 51% stake and MTN Group will hold a 49% stake.

American Tower will pay approximately $89m for its stake in the new holding company. MTN Uganda will be the anchor tenant, on commercial terms, on each of the towers being purchased. American Tower also expects that ATC Uganda will build approximately 280 tower sites for MTN Uganda over the next three years, as well as pursue opportunities to build tower sites for other wireless operators in Uganda. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2012, subject to customary closing conditions. Upon the close of the transaction, ATC Uganda will be the largest owner and operator of tower sites in Uganda.

“We are pleased to announce the launch of our operations in Uganda, again in partnership with MTN, Africa’s largest mobile operator,” said Jim Taiclet, chairman, president and CEO of American Tower. “Our strategy is to invest in select African markets with strong wireless growth potential and a positive investment climate. Our investment in Uganda is further evidence of our execution of this strategy. In addition, we are building upon our successful partnership with MTN in Ghana where our tower expertise, operational excellence and a focus on delivering growth and value from the asset portfolio, are highly complemented by MTN’s regional operational experience.”

Group president and CEO of MTN Group, Sifiso Dabengwa, added that; “Infrastructure sharing makes absolute sense for MTN and we expect it to play a significant role in reducing our long-term infrastructure costs. The Ugandan market has presented us with an opportunity to continue to build on our strong working relationship with the experienced team at American Tower”. MTN owns approximately 33,000 towers across its 22 operations in Africa and the Middle East. “Because market conditions in each of the markets are unique, we will continue to evaluate infrastructure sharing opportunities on a market by market basis going forward,” concluded Dabengwa.

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