Bharti Airtel-controlled telecoms tower firm Indus Towers revealed on Tuesday it is making plans to expand operations outside of India into select international emerging markets – particularly countries in Africa where Airtel currently operates.
According to a stock exchange filing, Indus’ board of directors approved the company’s plan to venture into African markets, beginning with Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia. Indus said it’s starting with those markets because they’re “attractive prospects for revenue diversification, operational scalability and long-term value creation.”
Indus – one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in India with over 251,700 telecom towers across all 22 telecom circles – said it will leverage its anchor customer relationship with Airtel and its “robust financial position” to establish a competitive presence in those countries.
Indus also said it will evaluate potential expansion opportunities in other African markets where Airtel Africa has an established presence.
Apart from Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, Airtel Africa also runs mobile network services in 11 other countries: Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo and the Seychelles. Airtel Africa said in May it had 166.1 million subscribers across all its markets as of the end of March 2025.
Indus’ primary competition in Africa’s independent tower sector will include big names like IHS Towers, Helios Towers and American Tower Corp (ATC) – the latter of which signed a multi-year, multi-product agreement with Airtel Africa in 2022 to support its mobile network rollouts in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda. Last year, that deal attracted the attention of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa competition commission, which looked into allegations of anti-competitive conductlooked into allegations of anti-competitive conduct. However, later the same year, Airtel Africa renewed its tower lease deal with ATC for 7,00 sites in those markets for another 12 years.
Indus noted that its Africa expansion plan is subject to necessary approvals and compliance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements.
“By leveraging our expertise in delivering innovative and cost-effective solutions, we are well-positioned to differentiate ourselves in Africa’s fast-growing telecom market and emerge as the preferred tower company,” said Indus Towers MD and CEO Prachur Sah in the filing.
