India’s Indus Towers Partners With Airtel To Enter African Market

Indus Towers, one of India’s largest telecom tower companies, is expanding its operations into Africa. This strategic move is a new partnership with Airtel Africa, its anchor client in Africa, through its parent company, Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel and Indus Towers already have a long-standing partnership in India, and this move will allow Indus to enter the African market using Airtel Africa’s exposure to the continent. Airtel Africa, which has established a solid presence in 14 countries, has been active since 2010. This background will give this partnership the leverage it requires for Indus Towers to scale swiftly. Indus Towers’ CEO, Prachur Sah, has stated that the goal is to become the preferred tower company in Africa by providing “innovative and cost-effective solutions.”

The expansion will begin with Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria. These markets were chosen for their potential for revenue diversification and operational scalability.  The move into Africa is a significant step for Indus Towers, which has primarily operated within India’s 22 telecom circles, managing over 251,000 towers.

The company will be entering a competitive market with established players like IHS Towers, Helios Towers, and American Tower Corporation (ATC). ATC, in particular, has had a long-standing partnership with Airtel Africa, having signed multi-year agreements for thousands of sites across several African countries.

Indus Towers builds, owns and manages telecom infrastructure, allowing different cellular service providers to lease space on the towers, which then offers the providers leeway to cut costs through shared hardware and resources. Indus is also making a foray into the electric vehicle market in India, launching charging stations that will help diversifying its business portfolio, and make additional use of its energy resources.

Indus Towers has indicated that its initial entry into Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria is just the beginning.The company will continue to evaluate expansion opportunities in other African markets where Airtel has an established presence, such as Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This expansion will put Indus in direct competition with rivals across nearly every major telecom market in Sub-Saharan Africa.