Many telecom operators in sub Saharan Africa have sold their towers to independent companies and have resorted to tower sharing due to declining revenues. African telecoms markets are very competitive and often difficult and expensive to operate in, so telecoms have come to accept the case for outsourcing passive infrastructure such as towers from third parties.A mobile tower costs about $150,000 to $200,000 to build can together with infrastructure account for more than 60 percent of the expense incurred by these operators. Many have sold their towers and are now getting into Sale-and-leaseback deals to reduce expenses.The funds from tower sales are used by operators to reduce debt and improve service and efficiency said the Global System for Mobile telecommunications Association (GSMA).MIn Nigeria alone, earned about N689.96 billion (about $3.5 billion US) from tower sales between 2010 and 2014, reducing their capital expenditures significantly.MTN, Airtel and Etisalat transferred their towers to third party infrastructure companies in mid 2015.
Tower companies in the region have managed to acquire 47 500 towers from operators between 2010 and 2014 to the value of $4 billion.

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