South African operator group MTN has announced that it will sell 931 mobile network towers from its Ivory Coast operations to infrastructure provider IHS for $141m, as well as 827 towers from MTN Cameroon for $143m.

Under the terms of the agreement, IHS will set up two tower companies – one in each country – to manage the towers and other passive infrastructure. The firm will wholly own both subsidiaries. MTN Cote d’Ivoire and MTN Cameroon will rent usage of the towers back from IHS for an initial term of ten years.

The sale of towers is in line with a wider infrastructure sharing strategy that the operator has adopted, aimed to monetise its assets and reduce its costs.

“With a continued commitment to improving the service to our customers, a reduction of our capital expenditure requirements allows us to concentrate on investing in our customer base and implementing additional services to meet the demand for innovative products and data,” said Sifiso Dabengwa, group president and CEO of MTN Group.