Experts Rule out Distress in Massive BTS Sell Off

The recent massive sell off of transceiver stations (BTS) tower assets by major telecommunications operators in Nigeria including MTN, Airtel and Etisalat is a new business model to cut operational costs and boost profitability and not sign of distress, according to experts who should know.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Lanre Ajayi, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that  sale of towers by operators will ensure that the telcos  focus on their areas of core competence.

MTN, Airtel and Etisalat are selling off over 30,000 tower assets. MTN Group is on the verge of selling towers valued at $1 billion in Nigeria, and Bharti Airtel Africa is selling about 15,000 of its towers across 17 countries for $2bn- $2.5 billion.

Etisalat on the hand is to sell 2,136 of its towers to IHS Holding Limited (IHS) as part of a broader strategy to drive improvements in the quality of its network performance and to accelerate roll out of 2G and 3G coverage and new services to its customers.

Adebayo said that the development is a testimony that the country’s telecommunications industry is responding to the dynamics of global economic trends, which makes operators more efficient as they focus on the core competent of service delivery.

He added that the move will create more jobs as it encourages springing up of supportive players in the industry.

“This is also fallout of our internal regulatory mechanism to ensure growth in the industry. More so, tower sale could be as a result of administrative reasons, cost reduction or shareholders decision,” he said.

Also commenting Ajayi of ATCON said that sale of towers by operators is a development in the right direction as it will ensure that people focus on their areas of competence.