American Tower inked a deal to acquire Eaton Towers, which owns and operates around 5,500 sites across five African markets, in a $1.85 billion deal.

The US company already has a global portfolio of more than 170,000 sites, including around 41,000 in its home market and 130,000 worldwide. In Africa, it has a presence in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa.

Eaton Towers said it is the only infrastructure company in Niger and Burkina Faso. It also claims to be the largest player (by number of towers) in Kenya and second-largest in Uganda and Ghana, meaning there is significant regional overlap with the American Tower portfolio.

Jim Taiclet, American Tower CEO, said: “This transaction will significantly augment our existing footprint in Africa and positions ATC to take even better advantage of the growth opportunity in the region as 4G mobile data technology is deployed to serve millions of Africans over the coming years.”

The acquired assets are expected to generate around $260 million in property revenue and around $165 million in gross revenue, at current exchange rates, in their first full year in the American Tower portfolio.

Early days
Christian Skaanild, director representing Eaton Towers’ majority shareholder Capital Group Private Markets, said: “We are proud of what has been achieved since we made our first investment in Eaton Towers in 2011, when the African telecom towers industry was at a very nascent stage. Since then our investment has contributed to improved coverage and capacity delivering voice and data access for consumers.”

Financial Times reported Eaton Towers was due to list in 2018, but pulled its IPO. It was noted that this may have brought forward bidders for an acquisition.

Another African towers business, Helios Towers, also pulled plans for a float in 2018. Also active in the region is IHS Towers.

The deal sees American Tower taking on existing Eaton Towers debt, which is included in the $1.85 billion figure. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

[caption id="attachment_5585" align="alignnone" width="300"] Rural Vietnam Mountains[/caption]

Vietnam’s communications ministry hosted a workshop outlining international success stories in the mobile money sector, in a move to promote the benefits ahead of proposed trial deployments.

During the two day event, the country’s minister of information and communication Nguyen Manh Hung said adoption of a mobile-based payment system would help people in mountainous and other remote regions access a range of banking and online services.

The politician pointed to the abilities of mobile money to not only increase financial inclusion, but expand access to services in the health, education, employment services and social welfare.

The ministry’s event, in Hanoi, brought organisations from countries with experience in the sector to share experiences.

According to Vietnam government statistics, 60 per cent of the country’s 95 million citizens do not have access to a formal bank account, with the majority of those that have concentrated in urban areas.

Last month state media in the country revealed MobiFone, Viettel and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group were preparing to launch pilots of mobile money services.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

[caption id="attachment_5582" align="alignnone" width="300"] Economic Centre MTN[/caption]

Kumasi, May 29, GNA – MTN Ghana, as part of efforts to bring telecom services closer to its numerous customers, has opened a new service centre at Kejetia in Kumasi, at an impressive ceremony.

The ultra-modern edifice, a replica of its head office in Accra, is located directly opposite the newly- constructed Kejetia Market and is a one-stop centre, where customers could access a wide range of products and services of the leading communication company in the country.

Mr Eric Nsarko, the Head of Sales and Distribution of MTN Ghana, said the opening of the centre formed part of the company’s commitment to reach out to its cherished customer with first class services.

He said there were about 61 service centres across the country aside its distributor and volume management ecosystems, with over 400 shops nationwide and the aim of establishing it to bring world-class customer experience to the doorstep of every Ghanaian.

“Employment is growing at the behest of this giant corporate establishment we call MTN. Today over 500,000 Ghanaians owe their employment and livelihood to what is happening as part of this telecom value chain”, he noted.

He said over 230,000 people on the platform of MTN perform electronic transactions in the form of airtime sales every three months, while in excess of an 120,000 people were mobile money agents.

On daily basis, he said, about 12,000 people sold and registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards across the country with thousands of others gainfully employed as suppliers and contractors in the value chain.

Touching on the new service centre, he said it represented MTN’s timeless relevance and a long term impact in Ghana.

The imposing structure, according to him, was aligned with the Company’s vision of a bold new digital world that MTN sought to create.

He expressed the company’s gratitude to the occupant of the Golden Stool, the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene and the good people of Asanteman for their loyalty and continuous patronage.

Nana Kwaku Amankwah Sarkodie, the Chief of Sewua, who represented the Asantehene, paid glowing tribute to MTN for the significant impact it was making on the lives of Ghanaians in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment.

He particularly commended the company for its mobile money service, which he touted as a game changer, but was quick to admonish the company to take urgent steps to clamp down the activities of fraudsters.

Source: GNA

Telecom operator AirtelTigo and Huawei have announced a strategic partnership to enable more Ghanaians to get access to smartphone experience they aspire for with reliable internet.

The partnership will give new and existing customers of AirtelTigo a new SIM card, minutes to call AirtelTigo lines and data for the purchase of any Huawei phone in AirtelTigo shops or an authorized Huawei dealer shop nationwide.

According to the partnership, the free data and voice minutes for customers will vary based on the price of the Huawei phone. While enjoying the free data and voice for every month for a year, customers will have to dial *536# to activate the offer for the first month and recharge their lines with GHS2 and above every month.

“This is yet another step in our ongoing journey to make life simple for our customers. Our partnership with Huawei is part of our long-term plan to partner with multiple smartphone makers to boost our efforts of increasing smartphone usage and ensure millions of Ghanaians have access to the internet,” Chief Operating Officer at AirtelTigo, Murthy Chaganti said.

Mr. Chaganti stated that with AirtelTigo’s wider network coverage and affordable internet connectivity, the company is delighted to support efforts to increase access to the internet through its innovative products such as “Big Time Data Bundles” to make the lives of many Ghanaians simple.

Commenting on the partnership, Simon Liuxinwu, the Country Manager, West African Countries (Huawei – Consumer Business Ghana), said Huawei Consumer Business Ghana aims at rapidly driving growth in the smartphone industry, saying “We simply want to enrich the Ghanaian surfing experience with high technology smartphones and we believe partnering AirtelTigo will help make this a reality.

Huawei moved its way into a clear number two spot as the only smartphone vendor at the top of the market that saw volumes grow during first quarter of 2019. Impressively, the company had year-over-year growth of 50.3% in 1Q19 with volumes of 59.1 million units and a 19.0% market share.

Source: airteltigo.com.gh