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IHS Towers

IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world, with operations across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. It is the third largest independent multinational tower company in the world.[1][2][3][4]

Operations

Founded by Sam Darwish in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2001, IHS specializes in building and operating communication infrastructure throughout emerging markets. The company launched colocation services in 2009,[5] and had acquired MTN’s tower portfolios in Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Zambia and Rwanda by 2014.[6]

Following the completion of a sale and leaseback agreement with the mobile network operator Zain in Kuwait, and the acquisition of Cell Site Solutions in February 2020, IHS Towers expanded beyond Africa, operating across three continents. It is one of the world’s fastest growing tower operators, owning and managing over 40,000 towers[1] in 10 countries, including Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia in Africa; Brazil, Colombia in Latin America; and Kuwait in the Middle East.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

IHS was listed on the NYSE in October 2021 in what was noted as the largest U.S. listing of a company with an African heritage.[16]

The company operates six business segments: colocation and lease amendments; new sites; inbuilding solutions, or distributed antenna system (DAS); small cell; fiber connectivity; and rural telephony.[17][18][19][20]

In November 2021, IHS expanded its fiber offering and closed its acquisition of a 51% stake in FiberCo Solucoes de Infraestrutura from TIM Brasil.[21] In June 2022, IHS acquired MTN South Africa’s towers.[22]

IHS increased its use of solar energy and hybrid power systems to reduce its overall emissions; by December 2020, over 45% of its African operations had solar power available.[23] In October 2022, IHS published its "Carbon Reduction Roadmap", a strategy for decreasing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by approximately 50% by 2030.[5][24]

Mobile network operators (MNO)s that IHS works with include: MTN, Orange, Airtel, Etisalat, Millicom, Zain, Claro, TIM, Telefônica and Vivo.[25][26][9][27][28][29]

Along with its founding partners, UBC, IHS is supported by a group of international shareholders including Emerging Capital Partners, International Finance Corporation, Wendel, Goldman Sachs, African Infrastructure Investment Managers, Investec, the IFC’s Global Infrastructure Fund, (FMO) Dutch development bank, Korea Investment Corporation, and Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC.[30][31][32][33]

The IHS Board includes Jeb Bush, who heads the governance committee; Ursula Burns, the former Xerox CEO and the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, who also sits on the Uber and Nestle boards; and Carolina Lacerda, the former head of investments banking of UBS in Brazil.[34]

Competitors

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

References

  1. ^ a b "IHS Towers: The Backbone of Digital Possibilities". Tech Cabal. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  2. ^ Smith, Matt. "Africa phone tower firm IHS raises $2.6 billion", Reuters, 3 November 2014. Accessed 16 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Africa's biggest mobile tower operator plans New York IPO". Financial Times. September 17, 2021.
  4. ^ "MTN agrees to sell and leaseback 5,700 towers to IHS Towers".
  5. ^ a b "IHS Towers completes its acquisition of MTN South Africa's 5,701 tower portfolio". Tower Exchange. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  6. ^ "IHS concludes MTN tower buy-out in Zambia, Rwanda". Engineering News. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  7. ^ "IHS Towers' loss widens despite revenue increase". Mobile Europe. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  8. ^ "IHS Towers looking for buyers for Brazil operation". BNA Americas. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  9. ^ a b "Zain Kuwait closes US$130mn sale and leaseback deal with IHS Towers". TowerXchange. February 14, 2020. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  10. ^ "Nigeria's IHS Towers acquires Brazil's Cell Site Solutions from Goldman Sachs". Nairametrics. December 24, 2019.
  11. ^ Nsehe, Mfonobong. "Nigerian Multi-Millionaire Tycoon Issam Darwish Raises $2.6 Billion For Telecom Towers", Forbes, 11 March 2014. Accessed 13 August 2015
  12. ^ "IHS Towers prepares to IPO". TowerXchange. August 26, 2020. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  13. ^ Thomson, Amy; Spillane, Chritospher. "IHS Said to Pay About $2 Billion for MTN Towers in Nigeria", Bloomberg, 4 September 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  14. ^ "Top 141 towercos and infracos worldwide, by estimated tower count"[permanent dead link], TowerXchange, June 2015. Accessed 13 August 2015.
  15. ^ "IHS Towers coughs up $413m for 5,700 MTN sites". Telecoms.com. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  16. ^ "African mobile mast operator IHS Towers seeks valuation of more than $7bn". Financial Times. October 4, 2021.
  17. ^ "Creating A Connected World". Leaders magazine. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  18. ^ "Africa's largest tower company eyes Gulf for growth". Arabian Business. April 4, 2019.
  19. ^ "MTN expands scope of tower service, targets rural connectivity". Nairametrics. July 24, 2020.
  20. ^ "Adapting to our region" Archived 2015-12-27 at the Wayback Machine, IHS Towers. Accessed 13 August 2015.
  21. ^ "IHS Towers takes majority holding in TIM Brasil's FiberCo". Developing Telecoms. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  22. ^ "IHS Towers completes its acquisition of MTN South Africa's 5,701 tower portfolio". Tower Exchange. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  23. ^ "IHS Towers on their IPO, MTN deal, Brazilian fibre, Egypt entrance and more". Tower Xchange. December 6, 2021. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  24. ^ "IHS Towers announces emissions targets". SAMENA. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  25. ^ "Capitalizadas, empresas regionais de telecom avançam nos espaços de Oi, Vivo e TIM". InfoMoney (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  26. ^ "IHS acelera implantação de torres e aumenta capex de fibra na América Latina". BNA Americas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  27. ^ "Kuwait's Zain inks $165m mobile towers deal". Arabian Business. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  28. ^ "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.
  29. ^ Clark, Simon. "IHS Buys Airtel’s Mobile Phone Towers in Zambia and Rwanda", The Wall Street Journal, 14 December 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  30. ^ "Deal: MTN Says It'll Swap 51% Of Its interest In Nigeria Tower For Additional Stake In IHS". Nairametrics. February 2, 2017.
  31. ^ Smith, Matt. "Africa phone tower firm IHS raises $2.6 billion", Reuters, 3 November 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  32. ^ Blas, Javier. "Goldman Sachs joins scramble for African mobile telecoms", The Financial Times, 2 March 2014. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  33. ^ Rice, Xan. "IHS: Local knowledge is important in fulfilling towering ambitions", The Financial Times, 27 November 2012. Accessed 14 August 2015.
  34. ^ "Sam Darwish, the 'Indiana Jones' of IHS Towers". Brazil Journal. May 10, 2021.