MTN to absorb 2,762 IHS Towers employees as acquisition advances

MTN Group, Africa’s biggest telco, will absorb 2,762 IHS employees as part of its $2.2 billion acquisition of the infrastructure company.  

As part of the deal, MTN has pledged to guarantee salaries and core benefits for all incoming employees for at least one year. Under the agreement, employees will retain their base pay, bonuses, and core benefits at levels broadly comparable to their pre-acquisition packages for the first 12 months after the deal closes—a buffer designed to maintain morale as teams are folded into MTN’s operations.

For MTN, absorbing this workforce signals a shift toward greater operational control of critical telecom infrastructure, as operators across Africa reassess their long-term reliance on independent tower companies.

Nigeria accounts for the largest share of the incoming workforce at 1,559 employees, according to IHS’ latest financial report, reflecting the country’s centrality to IHS Towers’ business.

Other key markets include Côte d’Ivoire (158), Cameroon (145), Zambia (108), and South Africa (123), alongside 251 employees classified under other regions. An additional 418 workers were tied to Latin American operations, which have since been discontinued.

The workforce is heavily weighted toward technical roles, with 1,621 employees, highlighting the engineering-intensive nature of tower infrastructure operations. 

Finance (271 employees), information technology (137), and human resources (101) are the next-largest segments, supported by smaller teams in legal, commercial, and executive functions.

Beyond permanent staff, IHS Towers also disclosed that it engaged 410 temporary employees across departments such as technical operations, legal, and human resources. These workers support functions ranging from compliance to site maintenance, areas likely to remain critical as MTN expands its infrastructure footprint.

Labour relations across IHS Towers’ markets have remained stable, according to the company. In Cameroon, about 33% of employees are unionised, while Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia have unionisation rates of roughly 30% and 38%, respectively. 

In these countries, employment conditions are governed by national collective agreements rather than company-specific arrangements. In Brazil, all permanent employees are covered by a statutory collective agreement.

Despite these varying frameworks, IHS Towers has not experienced labour-related work stoppages or strikes, suggesting a relatively smooth transition environment for MTN as it absorbs the workforce.

The acquisition also comes with rising personnel costs. IHS Towers reported staff expenses of $166.4 million in 2025, a 9.2 jump from the previous year. The surge was partly driven by higher share-based compensation, reflecting broader industry trends in retaining skilled technical talent.

Nigeria remains central to the transaction’s strategic rationale. IHS Towers generated $1.07 billion in revenue from the market in 2025, a  7% year-on-year growth, driven largely by organic expansion, including pricing adjustments and increased activity in colocation and new site deployments, even as currency pressures and contract renegotiations weighed on parts of the business.

Notably, revenue growth came despite churn linked to approximately 1,050 sites that MTN Nigeria agreed to vacate under renegotiated contracts in 2024—highlighting the evolving dynamics between telecom operators and tower providers.

Ahead of the deal’s close, IHS Towers is restructuring its portfolio by allowing financially distressed tenants to exit sites in exchange for structured debt repayment agreements, part of a broader cleanup, a cleanup that narrows the liabilities MTN will inherit.

Once completed, the deal will see IHS Towers delisted and become a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN, consolidating one of Africa’s largest tower portfolios under a single operator.