Indian headquartered Bharti Airtel announced that it has signed a deal to sell its more than 4,800 mobile towers in Nigeria.

According to a trading statement Airtel plans to sell the towers to American Tower Corporation (ATC) for around $1.05 billion.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first half next year subject to regulatory and other conditions, reads the statement.

"Total consideration is expected to be approximately $1.05 billion, subject to customary adjustments," said ATC.

The telecoms group said in a statement the Nigeria towers sale would allow it "to focus on its core business and customers, and enable it to de-leverage through debt reduction" while significantly reducing ongoing capex spends on passive infrastructure in the West African nation.

The sale of the Nigerian towers follows Airtel's decision to sell more than 3,500 of its mobile phone masts in six African countries to telecoms tower company Eaton Towers.

It has been reported that the sale is part of a bid to cut costs.

Meanwhile, in July Airtel agreed to sell about 3,100 mobile towers in four African countries to Helios Towers Africa.

Airtel has operations in 17 African countries and over 68.3 million subscribers on the continent.