MTN’s IHS Towers takeover advances as regulator demands fair access

MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile operator, is one step closer to taking full control of IHS Towers, a telecoms infrastructure company, in South Africa, but regulators are putting guardrails around what that ownership means for its rivals.

The Competition Commission, South Africa’s competition regulator, approved the $2.2 billion acquisition on September 30 with conditions requiring IHS infrastructure to remain available to competing operators on fair and non-discriminatory terms, limiting MTN South Africa’s ability to benefit from owning infrastructure that rivals also depend on.

The conditions address the deal’s central tension: MTN will own the tower infrastructure while continuing to compete with other mobile operators that use it. Towers are shared infrastructure, meaning control over them can affect how easily competing networks expand and operate locally.

The Commission said the proposed acquisition “raises competition and public interest concerns.” Its recommended conditions seek to ensure fair access to IHS infrastructure, protect existing customers and jobs, and prevent MTN South Africa from receiving preferential treatment.

MTN announced in February that it had agreed to acquire the 75.3% of IHS it did not already own, taking its stake to 100%. The all-cash transaction is worth about $2.2 billion, and MTN said it would strengthen its ownership of critical digital infrastructure across Africa.

IHS operates nearly 29,000 towers in Africa across five key MTN markets, according to MTN. The company provides shared passive infrastructure to mobile network operators and other licensed operators, making its towers an important part of the networks used to deliver mobile and data services.

The Commission said the conditions would require fair, equitable and non-discriminatory access to IHS infrastructure for mobile network operators and non-MNO customers. Existing lease agreements must be renewed fairly, with no customer disadvantaged relative to MTN South Africa.

“The Commission found that the proposed transaction raises competition and public interest concerns,” the Commission said in a Wednesday statement.

The conditions also seek to prevent preferential treatment of MTN SA and protect competitively sensitive customer information. IHS must remain operationally independent, while the package also includes measures covering jobs, historically disadvantaged persons’ ownership and participation by small, medium and micro enterprises in new tower sites.

MTN argues that bringing IHS fully into the group will help it scale its digital infrastructure platform, improve network performance and support the rollout of technologies including 5G and fixed wireless access.

Nompilo Morafo, MTN Group’s chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer, told TechCabal in an Interview on Thursday that MTN and IHS were pleased that the transaction had moved through the South African competition process.

“The parties believe the transaction will be beneficial to the entire industry and, accordingly, have offered certain conditions which they consider to fully address any competition and public interest concerns,” Morafo said.

She described the South African process as “an important milestone” following approvals in other markets. These include approval in principle from the Nigerian Communications Commission, as well as approvals in Zambia from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority.

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