MTN Nigeria revealed American Tower will take over 2,500 of its network sites from IHS Towers’ local unit starting in 2025, following the expiry of the lease agreement with its current provider.

In a stock exchange filing, MTN explained the decision followed a review of bids received in a tender to operate the tower assets, with American Tower deemed to have provided a superior submission.

MTN’s towers in Nigeria are currently operated by IHS Towers.

In 2014, the pair struck an agreement to transfer the operations of more than 9,000 Nigerian towers to the specialist company.

MTN stated American Tower’s takeover of some of its Nigerian towers “will further diversify our site portfolio” and align with its “proactive initiatives to renegotiate tower agreements”.

Bloomberg reported relations between the operator and IHS Towers have become strained, with a governance spat relating to a 26 per cent stake MTN Group holds in the infrastructure business.