African tower firm scores $150m funding

African tower management firm Eaton Towers said Monday it has secured equity funding worth $150m from Capital International Private Equity Funds (CIPEF), a private equity investor focused on emerging markets.

Eaton, which was set up in 2008 by CEO Alan Harper, a veteran of Vodafone; Sanjeev Ahuja, the ex-Orange; and Terry Rhodes, who has a background with African carrier Celtel, said the funding will be used to acquire, build and develop telecom towers across Africa for both existing and new projects.

In October 2010, Eaton signed a ten year contract to take over the operations and co-location management of 750 telecom towers for Vodafone Ghana and the company claims it is well advanced on plans to extend its operations across other parts of Africa.

“Tower sharing benefits everyone involved. Operators can increase coverage and quality of service whilst cutting capital investment and operating costs. At the same time, subscribers benefit from the increased competition of operators sharing the same tower which also improves coverage,” said Harper.