Bharti Airtel has stated that its agreement with Helios Towers Africa (HTA) for tower assets sale in Tanzania and Chad stands terminated. The termination, however, does not extend to the sale of towers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

Earlier in July 2014, the company had announced that it would divest 3,100 telecom tower assets to HTA in four countries — Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Chad and Tanzania. However, the term sheet expired in Tanzania and Chad and both the companies mutually decided to terminate the deal.

Airtel’s divestment of its tower assets would have expanded HTA’s coverage in Africa to over 7,800 owned towers. The deal was signed to help Airtel reduce debt and ongoing capital expenditure. In return, Airtel would have full access to the towers from HTA under a long-term lease contract and the agreement also envisaged that tower operations-related personnel will be transferred from Airtel to HTA. However, the agreement was subject to statutory and regulatory approvals in the respective countries.