The newly named Paradigm Tower Ventures makes their next play in Rwanda
IHS Towers, Africa's largest independent telecom tower operator, has agreed to sell 100% of it's Rwanda operations (IHS Rwanda Limited) including 1,465 sites to Paradigm Tower Ventures.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including government and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the second half of 2025.
An old name returns in a new market
Paradigm Infrastructure is a veteran African towerco team led-by ex-American Tower executives Stephen Harris (Chairman & Co-Founder), Steven Marshall (Director & Co-Founder), Hal Hess (Director & Co-Founder) and Gordon Porter (CEO).
Paradigm signed it's first sale leaseback in 2021 alongside US-based international towerco SBA Communications to acquire 1,400 sites from Airtel Tanzania in a joint-venture for US$175mn.
The team has since worked closely with SBA to build up the new entity, now called Minara Towers, including their team, operations and power-as-a-service offering. This has given the team a wealth of experience in managing energy and digitising tower assets which they will no doubt bring to Rwanda.
Working with Airtel in Tanzania has also given the team a very strong relationship with Aritel Africa, who IHS Towers are hosting alongside MTN on their Rwanda portfolio.
A 3-MNO market with two blue-chip players makes Rwanda attractive for towercos
Rwanda is a small but highly active mobile market, with three mobile network operators, including two blue-chip players MTN and Airtel, as well as KTN Rwanda.
IHS Towers has been the predominant towerco player in the market, focused on build-to-suit. Since acquiring MTN Rwanda's portfolio back in 2013, and Airtel Rwanda's in 2014, the towerco has over doubled the number of towers they operate, increasing stock at around 10% year on year.
Rwanda has 95%+ 4G population coverage, but around 50% internet access, with a focus on filling in white spots and densifying urban networks, while also expanding geographic coverage to more remote parts of the country.
Another towerco, TRES Infrastructure, operates a small portfolio in the market. African private equity firm Admaius Capital Partners recently acquired a majority stake in the local towerco, with new investment focused on rolling out new macro, distributed antenna and in-building systems.
Comments on the deal
Sam Darwish, Chairman & CEO, IHS Towers, commented, “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.
"We have enjoyed more than 10 years of commercial success in Rwanda. We are deeply appreciative to our colleagues and customers, in addition to the Government of Rwanda for its exemplary and investor supportive framework, who have all helped make IHS Rwanda the success it is today.”
Stephen Harris, Co-founder, Paradigm Tower Ventures, said, “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.”
