South African operator Telkom is reportedly considering the sale of its mobile towers in South Africa, in a deal which could fetch between USD500 million and USD1 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. According to unnamed sources UK-based Accenture, a management consulting and outsourcing company, will reportedly advise Telkom on the sale, with bids expected as soon as next week. IHS Holding of Nigeria and Helios Towers Africa are both allegedly expected to participate in the auction.
TeleGeography notes that recently Telkom has been looking into ways to significantly reduce its operating costs and capital expenditure. To that end, in March 2014 the operator signed a deal with rival MTN over the potential extension of the existing roaming agreement, which will include bilateral roaming as well as the outsourcing of the operation of Telkom’s radio access network (RAN) to MTN; the agreement is still under discussion.