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MTN wants to buy complete control of the global cell tower company IHS but must sell a 30 percent share of the Nigerian business to local investors to get government approval.
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The local sale will force Nigerian buyers to pay up to $1.1 billion to own a piece of the physical structures that power the country’s mobile networks.
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MTN plans to take the cash from the Nigerian sale and use it to pay off the massive debt it will take on to complete the global buyout.
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Finding local buyers with more than ₦1.5 trillion in cash will stretch the limits of Nigerian pension funds and force investment firms to team up to afford the deal.
August 28, (THEWILL) — MTN Group is preparing to sell a $1.1 billion stake in its Nigerian tower operations, reversing its long-standing asset-light approach in West Africa.
Ten years after selling off towers to cut operating costs, MTN is buying back control of IHS Towers globally while selling a 30 percent stake in IHS Nigeria to local investors.
The transaction reported by Bloomberg values the local carve-out between $900 million and $1.1 billion.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission made this local sale a required condition for approving the broader buyout.
IHS Nigeria controls roughly 18,000 of the company’s 29,000 towers across Africa. By requiring Nigerian ownership in the local unit, regulators are preventing a foreign entity from holding sole control over the country’s main telecom infrastructure.
MTN Group Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita confirmed that cash from the local sale will go straight toward paying off debt tied to the global IHS purchase.
“Any proceeds from a sell-down would be used to pay down debt linked to the IHS transaction”, Mupita said, adding that the transaction will proceed at a “market-oriented valuation”.
Keeping 70 percent of IHS Nigeria gives MTN full operational control over its network towers, while the $1.1 billion cash injection helps reduce the debt on its balance sheet.
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Local Capital Limits and Real-World Risks
Finding buyers for a $1.1 billion stake creates a major test for Nigeria’s financial market. At current exchange rates, local pension managers, private equity funds, and institutional investors must pull together over ₦1.3 trillion in cash.
Regulatory limits restrict how much money pension funds can put into a single asset, which means buyers will have to form large syndicates to fund the purchase.
Beyond raising the cash, buyers will take on the real-world operational costs of running telecom towers in West Africa. Operating margins rely heavily on power costs and currency stability.
Even though lease agreements with operators like MTN and Airtel Nigeria adjust for inflation, rising diesel costs and naira swings continue to squeeze profit margins across tower sites.
Final structure and timing still depend on valuation negotiations and official regulatory approvals.
If local investors pull off the purchase, it will stand as one of the largest infrastructure deals in West African history, showing just how much big-ticket asset volume the local market can handle.
Joy Onuorah is a business journalist and brand communications specialist covering financial markets, artificial intelligence, digital economy, and the ideas reshaping business across Africa and the global market. Beyond her reporting for TheWill, Joy uses brand strategy, storytelling, copywriting, and high-value SEO to help brands build lasting market authority.
