Helios Towers DRC (“HTD”) is a subsidiary of the pan-African independent telecom towers company operating in Africa: Helios Towers Africa.
HTD is the only independent telecom towers company in DRC and started its operations in October 2011. It is seeing significant demand for both co-location on its existing towers and for the construction of new towers. Furthermore, HTD has demonstrated a successful track-record in operating its existing towers network and roll-out
The telecoms towers business is the fastest growing sub-sector in African telecommunications. By outsourcing and sharing their towers, mobile operators are able to achieve significant capital and opex savings and much better “up-time” on the towers vs. building and maintaining their own, duplicate, infrastructure. It also benefits network coverage, energy consumption and overall environmental impact.
Amethis participated to a syndicated loan led by Standard Bank. The capex-acquisition funding will finance HTD’s deployment in sub-urban areas through the construction of new towers in the most populated areas.
This financing will create employment and will have direct benefits in the local telecommunication landscape:
– Lower telecommunuication costs for the end-user
– Improved service quality
– Better country coverage by existing operators
Role and added value of Amethis
By participating to this transaction, Amethis supports the development of local telecom infrastructure. Furthermore, the syndicated Lenders have developed a demanding approach on ESG issues. Indeed, Helios will develop an ESMS and apply ESAP requirement in accordance with IFC and OPIC standards (Labour rights, tower safety, aircraft navigation lights, remediation of contaminated sites, etc…).
