Airtel Zambia, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, has completed the sale process of 1,100 telecom towers in Zambia and Rwanda to IHS Holdings. Further, the company has leased back sold towers, as part of the 10-year contract signed in December 2014.

Airtel had sold the tower assets so that it can focus on its core business and deleverage its balance sheet. Further, the move will reduce its capex on passive infrastructure. Meanwhile, IHS intends to upgrade the telecom towers and power them through renewable energy sources. The company intends to reduce the diesel consumption of the tower sites while ensuring networking uptime.