IHS Towers records $269 million revenue for Q4 2025

IHS Towers, a global leader in shared telecommunications infrastructure, recorded $269.1 million in revenue from its Nigerian operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing a 4% year-on-year increase from $258.9 million in the same period last year.

According to earnings released on Monday via the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nigeria accounted for 67.6% of revenue from the company’s continuing operations during the quarter.

Despite the revenue growth, the company reported an $18.6 million decline in organic revenue, attributed to reduced earnings from core business operations impacted by foreign exchange resets and rising diesel prices. However, this was partially offset by a favorable shift in the Naira-to-dollar conversion rate, which averaged ₦1,453 to $1.00 in Q4 2025, compared to ₦1,629 to $1.00 in Q4 2024.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 9.5% year-on-year to $169.7 million, yielding a margin of 63.0%, while capital expenditure increased 19.3% to $40.2 million, driven by higher maintenance and other infrastructure costs. Fibre capital expenditure and new site investments saw minor declines during the period.

Site churn offsets growth but lease amendments support revenue

IHS Towers faced a notable reduction in the number of tenants, with 3,502 site exits recorded in Nigeria during Q4 2025. Most of these exits were from T2mobile (formerly 9mobile), accounting for 2,576 departures due to outstanding debts, which are expected to be settled gradually until July 2027.

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Despite this churn, the company achieved gains through site leases, adding 807 tenants, including 763 through collocations and 44 from new tower deployments.

Lease amendments also increased by 2,928 during the quarter, reflecting existing tenants expanding services by adding equipment, power, or space, helping to offset the impact of tenant exits.

The company’s full-year revenue from continuing operations rose 1.2% year-on-year to $397.8 million, with adjusted EBITDA increasing 1.4% to $249.8 million.

Strategic resilience and outlook

Sam Darwish, Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, highlighted that the fourth-quarter results reflect “disciplined execution, sustained commercial momentum, and resilience across the company’s operations.”

He noted the company achieved solid revenue growth, strong profitability, robust free cash flow generation, and continued reductions in consolidated net leverage.

As of the end of 2025, IHS Towers maintained 37,590 towers hosting 54,874 tenants, with lease amendments rising to 43,999. The company’s tower portfolio was impacted by the sale of its IHS Rwanda operations to Paradigm Tower Ventures and Latin American towers to Macquarie Asset Management.

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MTN to acquire IHS Towers in $6.2 billion all-cash deal

Darwish framed the company’s proposed sale to MTN Group as the “next step in our long-standing partnership,” describing it as a move that merges Africa’s largest mobile network operator with one of the continent’s leading digital infrastructure platforms. The company did not release a 2026 financial outlook, citing the pending MTN transaction.

IHS Towers remains a key player in Nigeria’s telecom infrastructure, supporting major operators such as MTN and Airtel, and its performance in 2025 underscores both the challenges of site churn and the potential for growth through strategic lease amendments and infrastructure expansion.