MTN, IHS in Nigeria mobile tower venture agreement

MTN has reached an agreement in principle with IHS Holding Limited (IHS) for the transfer of its towers business, comprising up to 9,151 of MTN’s mobile network towers in Nigeria, IHS said in a statement on Thursday.

The transaction is expected to reduce MTN Nigeria’s operating costs, drive network efficiencies and further expand MTN’s voice and data capacity.

This is the ninth tower transaction for IHS and its fifth with MTN following the transactions in Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda and Zambia that took place in 2012 and 2013. On completion of this transaction, IHS will manage over 20,000 towers in Africa.

Under the terms of the transaction and subject to requisite regulatory approvals,

MTN pushes into $1.4bn music streaming market as voice revenues fall

MTN, an emerging markets-focused telecommunications operator, is making incursions into the digital music streaming business in Nigeria.

This move, market watchers say, is an indication that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are working aggressively to build up alternative sources of revenue in an attempt to offset a steep decline in voice revenues, driven essentially by regulatory and competitive pressures.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for voice services is expected to decline steeply by around $5 per month over the next five years, down from $6-$7 in April 2013 and $10 in 2008.

“The telecoms industry will