Indus Towers starts earning revenue from Africa expansion

Passive telecom infrastructure provider Indus Towers has begun generating revenue from towers deployed in Zambia and Uganda in the September quarter and plans to start deployment in Nigeria this quarter, as its Africa expansion moves into its next phase.

The company’s early capital expenditure (capex) per tower remains within its planned levels, validating its cost model during the initial rollout, chief financial officer Abhishek Maheshwari said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

“Turning to Africa, we have successfully deployed towers in Zambia and Uganda in quarter two and also started generating revenue. In line with our phase rollout plan, we are set to begin deployment in Nigeria during the current quarter, and our early capex performance per tower remains within the plan, validating our cost model during the initial phases,” Maheshwari said.


Indus Towers has identified Africa as a long-term growth opportunity beyond its core Indian business. The company is leveraging its experience in deploying and managing telecom infrastructure in India to offer lower-cost solutions in the African markets, where Airtel remains its primary anchor customer.

Indus Towers managing director Prachur Sah said the initial deployments began in the latter part of the September quarter, with the business yet to reach a scale at which detailed performance metrics could be shared.

“So, in the subsequent quarters you will see us putting out the meaningful metrics out there for you to see. But as of now, it is not at scale,” Sah said.

The company has also begun engaging potential customers beyond its anchor tenant, seeking to build on its shared-infrastructure model, under which multiple telecom operators can use the same tower.

Indus Towers has so far withheld details on the number of towers deployed in Africa and the capex involved. Maheshwari said the company would share more operational and financial metrics in subsequent quarters as the portfolio reaches a more representative scale.

Sah said the company’s engineering expertise, experience in optimising equipment costs and vendor ecosystem would help it differentiate itself from established players in Africa.

Indus Towers added 2,869 towers during the quarter, taking its tower base to 270,480, up 5.6% from a year earlier. Co-locations, or operator tenancies on its towers, increased by 7,903 during the quarter to 440,153, up 5.9% year-on-year.