Corporate News
Safaricom’s subsidiary, the East Africa Tower Limited, says it was on
Friday allowed to disposing of 30 masts out of the 453 it acquired from
Essar. PHOTO | FILE
By OKUTTAH MARK
In Summary
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has given Safaricom approval to dispose of some of the telecommunications masts it acquired from the yuMobile owners in a joint buyout in 2015.
Safaricom’s subsidiary, the East Africa Tower Limited, says
it was on Friday allowed to disposing of 30 masts out of the 453 it
acquired from Essar Limited to Kenya Towers Limited the owner of
yuMobile.
The Business Daily could not confirm the value of the transaction with Safaricom.
“East Africa Tower Ltd is fully owned subsidiary of
Safaricom Limited which was used as a special purpose vehicle to
acquire 453 masts from Essar Limited in 2015. The current transaction
that has received approval from CAK refers to the disposal of 30 masts
to Kenya Tower Limited,” said Steve Chege, Safaricom director for
corporate affairs.
Tower firms have been eyeing the Africa market for acquisition or under the leaseback arrangement.
The leading tower firms include Helios Towers and Eaton towers.
In 2014, Eaton Towers acquired over 3,500 towers in
six countries across Africa, where Bharti Airtel has presence , with
Airtel having a 10-year lease contract.
In June 2013 Telkom Kenya signed an agreement with Eaton Towers for the management of its passive network infrastructure.
The fifteen-year tower management and leasing deal
was focused on both the maintenance of existing sites by Eaton Towers
and the building of new sites.
Under the agreement Telkom Kenya retained ownership
of its existing portfolio of over 1,000 towers while Eaton Towers was
tasked with investing in passive infrastructure upgrades and building
new towers to provide Telkom Kenya with improved coverage and network
quality
No comments :
Post a Comment