American Tower, Airtel to Ink Deal for 4,800 Phone Masts

American Tower Corp has agreed to buy more than 4,800 communications towers in Nigeria from Bharti Airtel Ltd, the companies said on Monday, without disclosing the deal value.

Bharti Airtel, India's top telecommunications company that also operates in Africa, will be the anchor tenant on the towers initially for 10 years, the companies said in a joint statement.

The companies expect to close the deal during the first half of 2015. Nigeria is Bharti Airtel's biggest market in Africa.

Bharti previously agreed to sell towers in several African countries to cut costs.

American Tower Corporation conducts its operations through its directly and indirectly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures.

It is a wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and develops communications sites. Its primary business includes leasing antenna space on multi-tenant communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies, wireless data providers, government agencies and municipalities and tenants in a number of other industries.