As Africa continues to grow in both population and wealth, the amount of individuals with the possibility and wish to access higher quality telecommunication options grows with it. In light of these exciting changes occurring on a nation-wide and, to an extent, continental level, Mohamad Darwish spoke to BizTec Africa about the challenges this shift in circumstances will bring about, as well as the potential solutions that could be implemented along the way. Mr. Darwish is a Managing Director with IHS Towers, the largest independent mobile telecommunications provider in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. They are currently operating in excess of 23,000 tower systems spanning the African continent and an impressive 15,500of these are located in the Nigerian territory. With such a robust portfolio of assets, Mohamad Darwish has first-hand experience of the untapped market potential in the region. It is no wonder that Nigeria is leading the mobile race, since it has the current highest market share within the industry. Mohamad Darwish cautions against using those statistics without serious consideration beforehand and points out that there is a danger of overestimating the exact penetration rate given the tendency of users to make use of more than one device at a time. However, he is strongly optimistic with regards to industry interest in Nigerian markets as well as the country’s prospects for further growth. An additional point that Mohamad Darwish is keen to discuss is the need for a sustained and positive collaboration between companies active in the mobile business and legislative bodies. As the penetration rate for the technology increases and the industry begins to move further into rural regions there is an ever increasing need for a collated expansion strategy that can fully maximise the potential therein.

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1st September 2015 16:15
The voice of Africa's ICT sector
IHS plans to inject fresh $500m to grow
capacity
TELECOMS
| June 28, 2015, 4:42 p.m.
Image: By BiztechAfrica
In less than two decades of telecoms
sector liberalisation in Nigeria and
licensing of Global System of
Mobile communications (GSM)
operators, subscribers’ number have
gone up while teledensity has also
passed the 100 percentage point. But
there are still challenges.
Mohammed Darwish, managing
director, IHS Towers, says the
availability of broadband services
will help address some of these
challenges. He says the firm will
soon inject another $500million into
the business after raising some
$2.5billion to finance expansion
drives. Darwish spoke with biztecafrica.com Nigeria’s portal editor, KOKUMO GOODIE in Lagos.
Over the last one decade of post­liberalisation of telecoms industry in Nigeria has seen growth.
What is the most significant you have noticed?
Africa’s population is just over one billion and is set to double over the next 40 years. This rise in
population is more affluent, mobile and connected than ever before. Nigeria alone has around 170
million people in it. As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, as well as being the largest
African economy, surpassing South Africa, Nigeria is leading this change.
The country’s economic fundamentals are very attractive to mobile network operators and
infrastructure companies. Nigeria is Africa’s largest mobile market with more than 140 million
subscribers and a market penetration of around 75 per cent and it is still growing year­on­year,
effective penetration rate could be lower due to the fact that it is common for average Nigerian to
carry more than one phone with him.
In your view, are MNOs doing enough to address service quality issues in Nigeria?
Currently IHS manages around 15,000 towers in Nigeria and over 21,000 towers in Africa. IHS is
planning to invest roughly $500 million and we already recruited around 400 workers (mostly

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engineers) in 2014 as we expand network capacity into new territories as well as improving quality
and reliability. At IHS, we also invested over $10 million in 2012 and planning to double the amount,
into developing the most advanced network operating center (NOC) in the country – this gives us 24/7
awareness and data capture of tower performance driving constant improvements in uptime and
energy consumption. IHS has worked hard to exceed 99.9 per cent network uptime across the
continent, even in areas where electricity does not exist and sites depend on diesel generators; we will
bring the same commitment to the newly acquired towers in Nigeria. IHIS raised more than $2.5
billion last year to finance the expansion of its portfolio and upgrade.
OTT is eating deep into the revenue of MNOs, what are the implications of this on the industry?
If we want to simplify the issue, such companies require reliable data networks to perform such
services, and broadband is what Africa presently lacks more than voice. IHS has been investing in
tower acquisitions across the country.
IHS has acquired towers from MNOs in Nigeria and Africa. In the light of what is happening
now, what economic sense does that make?
At the end of 2014, IHS completed the acquisition of 9,151 of MTN Nigeria and 2,136 of Etisalat
towers in Nigeria respectively. We also acquired about 1,500 sites from Airtel in both Rwanda and
Zambia. The transaction will reduce MTN and Etisalat Nigeria’s operating costs, drive network
efficiencies and further expand MTN and Etisalat’s voice and data capacity.
Opening the largest tower portfolio in Nigeria to all other mobile operators, internet service providers,
LTE/WiMax providers, who previously had no chance to provide that much coverage. Any savings
that mobile network operators (MNOs) generate through the more efficient running of their tower
operations by IHS are indirectly passed over to the consumer in the country, through overall
reductions in mobile pricing. Our core business is to run an efficient and effective network. Mobile
network operators outsource their tower portfolios to IHS creating three significant and almost
immediate benefits: These include: for the customer: the network improves, uptime increases to over
99 per cent and the network expands through sharing towers with other networks. For the mobile
network operator: costs are stabilised and capital is released to spend on improving the network and
developing products for customers; and for Africa: wider, more reliable and efficient networks, built
and maintained by professionals, promoting economic growth and protects the environment.
In a country such as Nigeria where petroleum products prices continue to increase, how is IHS
coping with the cost of running the towers?
Most of IHS towers are diesel operated and there hasn’t been a drop in price for the commodity in
recent times. In terms of a drop in the price of oil, we have agreements with our clients where we are
hedged against any increase or drop in the price of diesel which protects us. Many of our sites are
equipped to last many hours without generators; however to safeguard our operations against the
scarcity of diesel we have many measures in place such as partnering with large importers, having our
own depots, etc.
How far can renewable energy go in addressing Nigeria's peculiar power challenge?
Solar is an important way in producing power, but to address Nigeria’s power challenge I think is not
highly probable. We do use solar energy systems a lot on our sites, but their use depends on many
factors.
A new government is in the saddle. What do you suggest should be done to promote the ICT
industry in Nigeria?
The government and telecom regulator are doing lots of initiatives to improve the ICT sector in

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Nigeria. As the tower business is environment­friendly (through the reduction in carbon dioxide
emissions, or lower use of natural resources), and ultimately serves the end user by providing cheaper
infrastructure solutions to the mobile operators whom in turn can pass some of these savings to
subscribers and population, regulators have not forced the operators to prioritise the use of co­location
sites, but they went a long way in encouraging the operators to do so. As operators are going more
and more into rural areas, regulators are working in bringing the operators together and encouraging
them to align expansion plants into rural areas.
What are the latest technologies available on the stable of IHS Towers?
The first is our systems integration and optimising our supply chain. We have developed a
revolutionary ten year supply and efficiency contracting model with respective original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and vendors which has dramatically improved the quality and up time of tower
management.
We work with OEMs to produce improved design solutions based on existing technologies such as
solar, DC generators, batteries. OEMs supply equipment and technicians to run the equipment on a ten
year contract [we can break the contract at 3­4 years if they are not performing]. Over 3,000 jobs have
been created in this way. The contract includes the replacement of equipment by the OEM or vendor
as it wears out. Through optimising our supply chain in this way, IHS has refurbished its entire
portfolio in 18 months over the usual three years it would take using legacy models. And, we have
reduced our operating costs by 50 per cent. The second is our green energy initiatives aimed at
reducing our towers’ dependence on diesel. These initiatives include projects in Nigeria, Zambia and
Rwanda.
What is IHS' level of operations in Nigeria and the African continent?
Currently, IHS manages around 15,000 towers in Nigeria and over 21,000 towers in Africa.
Do you have plans to diversify into other fields such as mobile phone production?
IHS is a leader in telecommunications infrastructure sharing and leasing; where we still see huge
growth in this sector and we are focused to keep growing our business.
What are your short, medium and long term plans?
IHS is committed to developing our people and the communities we serve, and to help people and
businesses across the region build a powerful and prosperous future, by Africa and for Africa.
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