#76: IHS Towers - How the telecom infrastructure company is building and managing towers across Africa and beyond

Overview: Today, we’re going to explore IHS Towers - the African telecommunications infrastructure company. We’ll discuss the story across the following areas: 

1. Telecom tower infrastructure context 

2. IHS Towers' early history

3. Product & monetization strategy

4. Competitive positioning & potential exit options

5. Overall outlook

This episode was recorded on May 5, 2024

Companies discussed: IHS Towers, MTN, Airtel, Telkom, Orange, Etisalat / 9 Mobile, American Tower Company, Globacom, Libancell, Helios Towers Nigeria, Telkom, Vodacom, Goldman Sachs, (IFC), Public Investment Corporation of South Africa, Ecobank, Investec, Standard Bank.

Business concepts discussed: Tower Infrastructure, Shared communication infrastructure, Tower Leasing and Ownership Models, Market Expansion, Sale and Leaseback, Local vs Global Strategy, Capital-intensive business models, Currency devaluation

Conversation highlights:

• (01:50) - What IHS does and why we’re talking about it

• (04:37) - How Towers work

• (12:47) - How Telcos work with Towers in Nigeria and parts of Africa

• (23:22) - IHS Founding and Early History

• (34:19) - Funding

• (39:32) - Growth and International Expansion

• (47:26) - IHS IPO and trends post IPO

• (55:50) - Product Strategy & Monetization

• (1:08:30) - Competition

• (1:16:22) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

• (1:24:06) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

• (1:30:24) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

• Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

• Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

• Recommendation: Incredible Dance routine video to Sisa Song by King Promise: I love it so much I'm not sure how to put it into words. 1 minute of greatness

• Recommendation: Chris Brown “Sensational” live performance : Watching Chris Brown dance is watching a master of his craft.

• Recommendation: J. Cole - Let Nas Down

• Recommendation: Nas - Make Nas Proud

• Recommendation: Nas & Eminem - EPMD 2

• Recommendation: Nas - Rare

• Small win: Went back to reading older books to reset my reading palate

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: The Search for the Perfect Door - YouTube && Unusual Electric Car Features in Nigeria - Bloomberg

• Small win: Running sprints 

• Other content: Palito FM Autoscan Radio

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected] with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [email protected]

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at [email protected]

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