Africa’s telecommunication giants Airtel Africa Plc and South Africa’s MTN Group are looking for opportunities to share network infrastructure in Rwanda, Congo-Brazzaville and Zambia in a bid to lower capital and operational costs, enhance the quality of service to customers and extend digital and financial inclusion across Africa.

Airtel disclosed in its latest audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2025, that the planned infrastructure sharing agreements target sharing of all access network equipment, including the antenna, mast and backhaul equipment collectively referred to as Radio Access Network (RAN).

The latest disclosure comes after the two telcos concluded similar agreements in Uganda and Nigeria in March this year targeting improved network cost efficiencies, expanded coverage and the provision of enhanced mobile services to millions of customers, particularly those in remote and rural areas who do not yet fully enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life.“Following the conclusion of agreements in Uganda and Nigeria, MTN and Airtel Africa are exploring various opportunities in other markets, including Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Zambia,” says Airtel.

Telecom infrastructure sharing is a growing trend in the telecommunications industry, where different service providers share resources like cell towers and network equipment and most of these infrastructure sharing agreements are the result of commercial negotiations rather than regulatory intervention.

The practices help to reduce costs and has the potential to enable the delivery of world-class, reliable mobile services to more and more customers across Africa.

RAN sharing is the most comprehensive form of access network sharing involving the sharing of all access network equipment, including the antenna, mast and backhaul equipment.

Airtel Africa which has operations in 14 African countries says reaching underserved communities is its key priority and the company would continue to expand rural coverage through new site rollouts and investment in spectrum and technologies to support increased capacity to facilitate corporate purpose of transforming lives.“As part of ensuring our services are future ready, in addition to purchasing spectrum, we grew our fibre infrastructure and 5G capabilities and remain committed to our investment into data centres to further support digital inclusion across our markets,” the telco says.

Airtel group continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure to enhance both mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across its countries of operation.“In particular, we continue to invest in expanding our 4G and 5G network to increase data capacity, deploy new sites – especially in rural areas – thereby enhancing coverage and connectivity,” it says.“Our refreshed strategy puts the customer at the core of our strategy. We believe that by ensuring great customer experience, we will deliver on our corporate purpose of transforming lives across Africa.”Airtel says it remains focused on enhancing its 4G network availability, along with expanding newly launched 5G technology in key markets like Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.“Mobile money continues to be a key growth engine for the Group. We remain focused on building Africa’s most accessible and inclusive digital financial services platform—one that delivers both impact and sustainable value for Airtel Africa,” it says.

Last year Airtel Africa Plc concluded a deal to extend its telecommunication tower lease agreements with the American Tower Corporation (ATC) across its four subsidiaries in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Niger by 12 years.

The extension of the tower lease agreements is expected to help Airtel Africa reduce the risks of network failures and increase the maximum amount of data (information) that can be transmitted over a network to effectively rollout the 5G network.

The deal is also expected to help the company reduce its operating expenses by focusing on renewable energy solutions across a significant number of sites.

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