IHS Holding Limited known popularly as IHS Towers, and MTN Group have agreed to extend their tower lease contracts in Nigeria until December 2032, marking a decisive milestone in one of Africa’s biggest communications infrastructure partnerships.

The companies, which confirmed the development recently, say the renewal provides a firm terminal date that secures MTN’s tenancy across IHS Towers’ infrastructure for the next decade while creating room to resolve outstanding governance disputes.

MTN, which holds a 26% equity stake in IHS Towers, secured before the tower operator’s 2021 New York Stock Exchange listing, remains IHS’s largest customer and longest-standing partner.

IHS Towers: Nigerian contracts renewed through 2032 

IHS Towers and MTN announced that all Nigerian tower Master Lease Agreements had been extended to December 2032, under new terms designed to balance local and foreign currency exposure.

The companies say the Nigerian renewals complete a broader agreement that now covers approximately 26,000 MTN tenancies across six African markets: Nigeria, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Zambia and South Africa.

MTN, which holds a 26% equity stake in IHS Towers, secured before the tower operator’s 2021 New York Stock Exchange listing, remains IHS’s largest customer and longest-standing partner.

Focus shifts to governance 

With commercial arrangements now settled, MTN and IHS Towers say they are moving to address governance issues that have previously strained relations.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO, says the renewals into the next decade strengthen MTN’s capacity to keep networks robust and future-ready.

“We remain focused on ensuring our networks are well invested, have high availability and have the headroom to meet the growing and structural demand for data going into the future. These renewals are key to those priorities. We look forward to working constructively with IHS on the outstanding governance issues now that commercial arrangements have been concluded,” Mupita says.

Sam Darwish, Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, says the extension secures revenue stability while reinforcing a 20-year commercial partnership with MTN.

“As our largest customer and longest serving partner, we are proud to have completed the renewal of all tenancies with MTN Group in our African markets. Today, we reinforce our strategic relationship and commit to increased operational stability, by securing our revenue streams into the next decade, and leveraging our shared innovation to deliver critical connectivity and support digital inclusion across the African continent,” Darwish says.

Strategic alignment for Africa’s data future 

Both companies underline that their partnership will continue to support digital inclusion across Africa by expanding access to high-availability mobile networks.

They say that building on over two decades of collaboration, IHS Towers and MTN will use their combined expertise to navigate complex operating environments while delivering the network capacity needed for Africa’s growing data demand.