Vodacom Group will spin off its South African telecommunications tower portfolio into a separate business and may seek partners for the newly created entity, TechCentral reported. It does not plan to sell the towers. CEO Shameel Joosub told TechCentral that the plan is to spin off the "towerco", which does not have a formal name yet, by the group’s financial year-end in March.
The group has begun recruiting a CEO to lead the business, Joosub said. Spinning off Vodacom’s tower portfolio into a separate business will give it focus by having its own management team and will ensure it is being run properly, he added. It will also give Vodacom "optionality", Joosub said.
Rival MTN Group recently decided to spin off a portion of its South African tower portfolio, but unlike Vodacom, it intends to sell the asset. An announcement on a buyer for MTN’s South African towers is believed to be imminent, said TechCentral. Joosub said Vodacom will not sell its tower portfolio as the group views it as a strategic asset, but it is keen to find partners, possibly other mobile network operators or "other tower entities".
