African CDMA Mobile
Visafone Communications Ltd is the leading African CDMA mobile network operator. The company recently agreed to a $67 billion infrastructure sharing deal with a Nigerian company as part of a long-term strategy of monetizing Visafone towers to improve operational income. The partnership will enable Visafone to keep focused on its main areas of operations which should lead to improved efficiency and better quality mobile service for customers.
The Nigerian company, I H S Nigeria PLC, will benefit from the agreement by providing it with an infrastructure platform for consolidation, which should give a boost to its market position in Nigeria. This type of joint agreement has become common in the global mobile telecom industry in recent years and has achieved major synergies between mobile operators. Operators can gain efficiencies from the sale and leaseback of towers, and this has enabled increased growth in the telecom industry in Africa.