MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita.

MTN Group, a pan-African telecom company, informed shareholders today that it has completed the sale of its smaller West African subsidiary Spacetel Guinea-Bissau S.A. (MTN Guinea-Bissau) after receiving all regulatory approvals.

The telco stated that the sale to Telecel Group Mobile Limited is in keeping with the Group's strategic aim of accelerating portfolio transformation.

"MTN has taken steps to ensure a seamless transfer of ownership, which the Group believes is in the best interests of MTN Guinea-Bissau, its stakeholders and the sector in Guinea- Bissau at large," according to the company.

The sale was completed after MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita informed shareholders and markets in April that the telco's objective was to streamline and restructure its portfolio.

At the time, he said that the business had completed the sale of MTN Afghanistan, which marked the end of the group's planned exit from its Middle East companies.

Mupita went on to say: "We also accepted an unsolicited offer, subject to conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals for MTN's equity interests in MTN Guinea-Bissau and MTN Guinea-Conakry."

Today, MTN Group announced that it has completed the sale of MTN Guinea-Bissau.

MTN Nigeria closes renegotiation of tower leasing agreements

MTN also stated today that it has successfully renegotiated with IHS Nigeria to amend the binding commercial terms of the existing infrastructure sharing and master lease agreements.

The terms of the amendments are effective from 1 April 2024 and the existing contracts have been extended to 31 December 2032. 

Prior to the renegotiation, the site leases expired variously between December 2024 and December 2029, with the majority expiring in 2029, said MTN Group in trading update.

It added: "The revised terms meaningfully reduce the US dollar-indexed component of the leases linked to a discounted US consumer price index (CPI), making the leases majority naira-linked, as well as set a cap for the naira CPI escalator component. They also remove technology-based pricing, allowing payments for new upgrades based on tower space and power.

"The renegotiated agreements incorporate an energy cost component indexed to the cost of providing diesel power; however, the terms also provide for some discounts and incentives over the life of the contracts. The renegotiated terms aim to mitigate macro risks affecting MTN Nigeria as well as support margin recovery and resolution of its negative equity position."

Also, the company said "MTN Nigeria, ATC Nigeria and IHS Nigeria (the parties)have reached a mutual agreement regarding the approximately 2 500 sites that were awarded to ATC from the IHS portfolio, per our announcement on 7 September 2023. 

"Following trilateral discussions commenced in Q2 2024, the parties have agreed to a revised allocation of sites in terms of which ATC will provide tower services for up to approximately 2 100 sites, while IHS will manage up to approximately 1 400 sites. 

"This includes 1 000 new MTN sites to be rolled out over the next few years, to be allocated between the two tower operators."