Airtel Africa to offload 4,500 towers

Airtel Africa is set to sell around 4,500 towers across five of its markets to help reduce its USD3.5 billion debt pile and to prepare for upcoming bond repayments, Bloomberg writes. Regarding the plans, CEO Raghunath Mandava was quoted as saying: ‘We are constantly seeking to bring down our debt, and we prefer to bring it down even faster with the tower deals.’ According to the official, the group – which is majority owned by Indian group Bharti Airtel – is looking to sell sites in Tanzania, Madagascar, Gabon, Malawi and Chad.