Bharti Airtel is reportedly planning to sell its mobile phone tower masts in the African nations of Tanzania and Malawi. Around 1,000 tower masts in Tanzania are reportedly being sold to Helios Towers, while Eaton Towers would buy the tower masts in Malawi.
The deal would be in line with Bharti Airtel?s decision to sell 3,500 towers across six African countries to Eaton Towers, and 3,100 masts in four African countries to Helios Towers.
Many telecom operators have been selling masts to tower infrastructure providers and leasing them back to cut on their maintenance and operating costs in the regions with poor access to required infrastructure in the African continent. In September 2014, South Africa-based operator MTN sold 9,100 towers in Nigeria to the telecommunications infrastructure provider, HIS Holding Limited.
