MTN to soak up 2,762 IHS Towers employees in $2.2 billion acquisition

MTN Group, Africa’s greatest telco, will take in 2,762 IHS workers as a part of its $2.2 billion acquisition of the infrastructure firm.  

As a part of the deal, MTN has pledged to ensure salaries and core advantages for all incoming workers for no less than one yr. Underneath the settlement, workers will retain their base pay, bonuses, and core advantages at ranges broadly akin to their pre-acquisition packages for the primary 12 months after the deal closes—a buffer designed to take care of morale as groups are folded into MTN’s operations.

For MTN, absorbing this workforce alerts a shift towards higher operational management of vital telecom infrastructure, as operators throughout Africa reassess their long-term reliance on impartial tower corporations.

Nigeria accounts for the biggest share of the incoming workforce at 1,559 workers, in response to IHS’ newest monetary report, reflecting the nation’s centrality to IHS Towers’ enterprise.

Different key markets embody Côte d’Ivoire (158), Cameroon (145), Zambia (108), and South Africa (123), alongside 251 workers categorised below different areas. A further 418 employees had been tied to Latin American operations, which have since been discontinued.

The workforce is closely weighted towards technical roles, with 1,621 workers, highlighting the engineering-intensive nature of tower infrastructure operations. 

Finance (271 workers), info expertise (137), and human assets (101) are the next-largest segments, supported by smaller groups in authorized, industrial, and govt capabilities.

Past everlasting employees, IHS Towers additionally disclosed that it engaged 410 non permanent workers throughout departments equivalent to technical operations, authorized, and human assets. These employees help capabilities starting from compliance to website upkeep, areas more likely to stay vital as MTN expands its infrastructure footprint.

Labour relations throughout IHS Towers’ markets have remained secure, in response to the corporate. In Cameroon, about 33% of workers are unionised, whereas Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia have unionisation charges of roughly 30% and 38%, respectively. 

In these nations, employment situations are ruled by nationwide collective agreements reasonably than company-specific preparations. In Brazil, all everlasting workers are lined by a statutory collective settlement.

Regardless of these various frameworks, IHS Towers has not skilled labour-related work stoppages or strikes, suggesting a comparatively clean transition setting for MTN because it absorbs the workforce.

The acquisition additionally comes with rising personnel prices. IHS Towers reported employees bills of $166.4 million in 2025, a 9.2 leap from the earlier yr. The surge was partly pushed by larger share-based compensation, reflecting broader business tendencies in retaining expert technical expertise.

Nigeria stays central to the transaction’s strategic rationale. IHS Towers generated $1.07 billion in income from the market in 2025, a  7% year-on-year progress, pushed largely by natural growth, together with pricing changes and elevated exercise in colocation and new website deployments, at the same time as forex pressures and contract renegotiations weighed on elements of the enterprise.

Notably, income progress got here regardless of churn linked to roughly 1,050 websites that MTN Nigeria agreed to vacate below renegotiated contracts in 2024—highlighting the evolving dynamics between telecom operators and tower suppliers.

Forward of the deal’s shut, IHS Towers is restructuring its portfolio by permitting financially distressed tenants to exit websites in change for structured debt compensation agreements, a part of a broader cleanup, a cleanup that narrows the liabilities MTN will inherit.

As soon as accomplished, the deal will see IHS Towers delisted and turn into an entirely owned subsidiary of MTN, consolidating considered one of Africa’s largest tower portfolios below a single operator.