IHS Holding Limited, one of the world’s largest independent tower operators, has agreed to sell its 1,465 sites it operates in Rwanda for $274.5 million to Paradigm Tower Ventures. The sale is subject to government and regulatory approvals and is expected to close within the second half of 2025, the company said in a press statement released on Tuesday, May 20. “The agreement to sell our Rwanda operations to Paradigm Tower Ventures was carefully considered as part of our strategic initiatives targeted at shareholder value-creation options and highlights the value of our Rwanda operations within our wider portfolio,” Sam Darwish, Chairman & CEO, IHS Towers said in a statement to investors. IHS Holding started operating in December 2013 after acquiring the tower assets of MTN Rwandacell Ltd and purchasing the entire shareholding of Rwanda Towers Ltd (formerly a subsidiary of Airtel Rwanda Ltd). “We have enjoyed more than 10 years of commercial success in Rwanda,” Darwish noted. “Looking ahead, we remain excited by the strong growth opportunities across our footprint, underpinned by continued 5G deployment across our markets.” According to Stephen Harris, Co-founder, Paradigm Tower Ventures, Rwanda represents an exciting market with high demand for shared wireless infrastructure. “The Paradigm team is very much looking forward to building a strong customer focused business providing high quality and secure infrastructure to mobile network operators,” he noted in a press statement. According to the statement, Paradigm Tower Ventures’ Rwanda acquisition is backed by a consortium of equity and debt finance providers. In IHS’ first quarter 2025 financial results, Rwanda contributed $37.6 million to the company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation over the past year. New or increased lease expenses accounted for $4.4 million. IHS Towers currently operates over 39,000 towers focused on emerging markets of Rwanda, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia in Africa, Brazil and Colombia in South America.
