MTN gets Nigeria’s IHS approval with 30% sell-down condition

MTN Group has secured conditional approval from Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for its acquisition of the remaining stake in IHS Towers, clearing a major regulatory hurdle in its $2.2 billion takeover of the tower company.

The approval comes with a condition that MTN must sell down up to 30% of its stake in the Nigerian component of IHS at market prices over time. 

“MTN is comfortable with the conditions as set out,” the company said in its interim financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2026.

The condition addresses a central competition concern: IHS Nigeria operates nearly 16,000 telecom towers used by MTN Nigeria and rivals including Airtel and T2 Mobile. Giving MTN full ownership could have given a dominant operator control over infrastructure its competitors rely on to run their networks.

The sell-down gives regulators a way to address those concerns without blocking the transaction altogether. MTN will still retain majority ownership of IHS Nigeria while bringing the tower business more firmly under its control.

Towers sit at the centre of the expansion of mobile broadband, 5G and other digital services across African markets. Owning the infrastructure can give MTN greater control over network expansion, costs and long-term capacity while allowing it to capture revenue from other operators that use the same sites.

The Nigerian condition means MTN will not have unfettered control over IHS Nigeria, but retaining a majority stake should allow it to preserve the central benefits of the acquisition.

The condition also reflects a broader question about how infrastructure ownership should be structured in a market where one operator has a significant position.

If MTN were to own all of IHS Nigeria, it would potentially occupy both sides of the infrastructure market: it would be a major user of towers while also controlling a company providing those towers to competing operators. That creates the possibility of conflicts over pricing, access, maintenance, and network expansion.

The sell-down could also help MTN manage the financial implications of the wider IHS transaction.

MTN is acquiring the remaining roughly 75% of IHS Towers that it does not already own as part of a deal with an enterprise value of about $6.2 billion. Selling part of its Nigerian stake at market value would allow MTN to recycle some of the capital tied up in the acquisition and potentially reduce the pressure on its balance sheet.

MTN said its service revenue growth moderated in the first half of 2026 but expects growth to accelerate in the second half, supported by the normalisation of airtime lending in Nigeria, the annualisation of last year’s Nigerian price adjustments and a recovery in MTN South Africa’s prepaid business.

It also expects continued momentum from Ghana and its operations across Southeast Asia and Francophone Africa.

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