How Bharti Airtel’s Indus Towers Decision to Enter Africa is Likely to Shape the Ugandan Market and Beyond

Bharti Airtel’s tower infrastructure arm, Indus Towers, is stepping into Africa for the first time — and it is beginning with Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia.

The move, disclosed in recent stock exchange filings and reported by India’s Business Today and The Economic Times, signals a new competitive phase in Africa’s passive telecom infrastructure market.

A Strategic Leap Beyond India

In its filing, Indus Towers’ board said it had “approved the Company’s foray into African markets, beginning with Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia,” citing the “growth potential in emerging geographies” .

The expansion will be anchored by its long-standing partnership with Bharti Airtel, which operates in 14 African countries serving over 169 million customers. 

“The company will leverage its robust financial position and anchor customer relationship with Bharti Airtel to establish a strong and competitive presence in these regions.

As part of its broader growth strategy, the company will continue to evaluate expansion opportunities in other African markets where Airtel has an established presence,” Indus said in a regulatory filing.

“By leveraging our expertise in delivering innovative and cost-effective solutions, we are well-positioned to differentiate ourselves in Africa’s fast-growing telecom market and emerge as the preferred tower company,” Business Daily further quotes Indus Towers’ Managing Director & CEO, Prachur Sah as saying of the planned expansion.   

Uganda: A Market Where Airtel’s Move Could Reshape the Tower Landscape

In Uganda, the tower market is highly concentrated. American Tower Corporation (ATC Uganda) holds roughly 85-90% market share, with over 4,485 towers as at July 2025..  

The number two player, TowerCo of Africa Uganda (TOA, formerly Ubuntu Towers), had 513 towers deployed.

Until now, Airtel has been a major client for both ATC and TOA. But with Indus Towers — wholly owned by Airtel’s parent company — entering the market, industry observers expect that Airtel may channel much of its future tower business to its sister company. That would significantly shift the market balance.

The Regulatory Watchdog’s Precedent

Uganda’s communications regulator (UCC) will be watching closely. There is precedent: in earlier years, UCC ruled against what it deemed anti-competitive contracts between Airtel and ATC, inherited from Eaton Towers after ATC acquired it in 2019.

Those agreements contained clauses — like a Right of First Refusal — that, in the regulator’s view, locked out competition.

ATC Uganda has acknowledged inheriting these contracts and being required to keep them initially under competition approval conditions.

That experience means the UCC will likely scrutinise any new Indus–Airtel arrangements to ensure they do not result in a monopoly or dominance through related-party preference.

Nigeria and Zambia: Competitive but Shifting Markets

In Nigeria, where Indus will also launch, the market is larger but equally strategic. IHS Towers dominates with over 16,000 towers and about 60% market share, while ATC also operates there. Nigeria is one of Airtel’s most important African markets, making it a natural early target for Indus. 

The Wider African Context

Airtel’s operations extend across 14 African countries, several of which overlap with the footprints of other major independent telecom tower companies such as IHS Towers and Helios Towers.

IHS Towers maintains a strong presence in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Zambia, and Rwanda, while Helios Towers operates in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, South Africa, and Senegal.

In recent years, both IHS and Helios have pivoted towards portfolio rationalisation, a strategy aimed at withdrawing from smaller or lower-margin markets to focus on larger, high-growth economies where scale can drive stronger profitability.

For example, IHS sold its 1,465-tower Rwandan operation to Paradigm Tower Ventures in 2025 for up to $274.5 million, following earlier exits from Kuwait and Peru in 2024.

The divestment reduced IHS’s total portfolio from over 39,000 towers to approximately 37,700, but it retained market dominance in its core territories, including a 63% market share in Nigeria.

Helios Towers has followed a similar path, reducing capital expenditure from $765 million in 2022 to an estimated $170–210 million in 2023, and pausing planned acquisitions in Gabon and Chad due to regulatory hurdles.

These moves reflect a sector-wide recalibration in response to rising interest rates, currency volatility, and logistical challenges, particularly in power supply and site maintenance.

Against this backdrop, the entry of Indus Towers — with Airtel as a built-in anchor client — is a potentially game-changing development.

Indus’ arrival could disrupt existing towerco–tenant relationships in multiple markets, as Airtel may prefer to channel a significant portion of its tenancy business to its own group company.

Adding to the shifting competitive landscape, TowerCo of Africa — a subsidiary of Axian Telecom — is aggressively expanding across several African countries, including Uganda, where it has already positioned itself as the number two player.

This expansion, combined with Indus Towers’ entry, is poised to reshape competitive dynamics in both Uganda and the wider African tower industry.

Why This Could Be a Game-Changer

If Airtel shifts most of its business to Indus in Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia — and potentially across its other African markets — it could reshape towerco client portfolios, pricing power, and market dynamics. For ATC in Uganda, and for IHS and Helios in other Airtel markets, that may mean losing a major source of revenue unless they diversify quickly.

Regulators, mindful of past cases, will have to balance infrastructure investment incentives with guarding against market foreclosure.

The Road Ahead

Indus has signalled it will evaluate further African expansions where Airtel has a strong presence and this could eventually bring it into direct competition with IHS in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Rwanda; with Helios in Tanzania and the DRC; and with TOA in Uganda.

For now, Uganda will be an early test case of how a vertically aligned tower–telco relationship plays out under regulatory oversight, and of whether Indus can also win business beyond Airtel.