American Tower's African subsidiary ATC Africa has struck an agreement with MTN Nigeria to enhance connectivity in the country.
As part of the agreement, ATC Africa will facilitate new tenancies for MTN Nigeria over a multi-year period, starting in the second half of next year.
The partnership will focus on 'driving sustainable networks'.
ATC Africa expects to meet MTN Nigeria's site requirements using the tower company's more than 8,000 sites in Nigeria, a substantial portion of which already incorporate green energy solutions.
New sites will also be deployed in accordance with American Tower's green site specifications, confirmed the company.
"We believe this agreement, which secures incremental lease-up on our existing portfolio and a strong development pipeline, clearly demonstrates the differentiated value ATC Africa can provide its customers through our quality of assets, build-to-suit capabilities, Power-as-a-Service. and green site offerings," said Marek Busfy, senior vice president and CEO of ATC Africa.
MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola added: “Through this partnership with ATC Africa, we are setting the stage for a new era of connectivity in Nigeria, one that not only meets the growing demands of our customers but also aligns with our commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility."
MTN is the largest mobile operator in Nigeria with more than 77 million subscribers.
The telco confirmed in September that ATC will take over MTN's Nigerian tower operations from IHS Holding in 2025.
MTN then renegotiated its tower contracts in the country, with the lease of approximately 2,500 of its IHS network sites previously due to expire in 2024 and 2025.
As for American Tower, the company has sites in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Niger, and Burkina-Faso.
Last year, ATC Africa signed a multi-year, multi-product agreement with Airtel Africa to provide its communications sites across Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda, to support Airtel's network rollout.
However, American Tower has been in several disputes this year, reportedly disconnecting Telkom Kenya from its tower infrastructure for failing to pay site leasing fees last month.
Earlier this year, Ugandan telco Smile was frowning when it accused the company of causing a 15-month service outage by illegally disconnecting its network. ATC swiftly hit back at the claims and threatened legal action against the telco.
