Ubuntu Towers has been rebranded after an acquisition by Mauritius-based TowerCo of Africa. The acquisition will break the virtual monopoly that is held by the American Tower Cooperation (ATC) which controls most of the tower building space in Uganda.
Speaking at the launch of the rebranding ceremony last week, Group CEO, TowerCo of Africa Mr. Beuvelet Stephane said, “You know, we are here to disrupt and we enjoy it. So, you know, and it’s actually raised a lot of value. When you have a newcomer, in this case, a new Towerco, it brings value and the telecom companies are happy. We are bringing competition. Monopoly is not good in any country as it’s actually creating a lot of resistance, innovation is not happening and pricing is. usually high. I so I think it’s good for the market in general.”
TowerCo of Africa is investing over 40 million dollars in the business after acquiring UBUTU Towers formed in 2021 by former employees of Eaton Towers. In 2019, Eaton was acquired by ATC, acquiring in a deal that saw over 1,460 towers from Eaton sold off. At the time, Eaton’s acquisition meant that its major customers including Airtel, MTN, Africell, and Smile, would only rent off ATC sites in which MTN already has some stake.
The CEO of Towerco of Africa Uganda said that the company has been able to roll out more than 360 sites for its clients. As the business grows the company promised to have rolled out at least 450 sites by the end of this year.
Towerco of Africa comes at a time when Smile Telecom Uganda has been off-air for over 16 months due to commercial disputes with ATC since 2018 over discriminatory pricing practices and unfair power billing practices. The breaking of the current monopoly would see existing telecom firms have options other than ATC and the two companies would face of stiff competition for the tower business market share in Uganda.
