Africa's leading telecoms operator, MTN Group, has opened discussions with domestic investors to sell a 30% stake in IHS Nigeria Plc, after receiving approval from Nigerian regulators for its acquisition of IHS Towers. For the Johannesburg-listed group, which runs mobile networks across Africa and counts Nigeria among its biggest markets, the selldown is a regulatory requirement attached to the deal rather than an optional disposal.

According to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter, the sale of the 30% stake to local investors could raise between $900 million and $1.1 billion for MTN Group — an implied valuation of roughly $3 billion to $3.7 billion for IHS Nigeria. The identities of the prospective investors and the details of the transaction remain undisclosed.

The stake sale forms part of the operator's broader push to finalise its proposed $2.2 billion acquisition of IHS Towers, a deal under which MTN would acquire the remaining 70% of the tower infrastructure company. IHS Nigeria, the largest asset of New York-listed IHS Towers, operates about 18,000 telecom towers — Nigeria's largest tower portfolio, in one of Africa's biggest mobile markets.

In its H1 2026 earnings release published on Monday, the group confirmed that it has received regulatory approval from Nigerian regulators, notably the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) — the country's antitrust authority and its telecom sector regulator respectively.

"The transaction has received approval from various regulators, including Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission," MTN said.

As part of the approval, Nigerian regulators made clear that MTN cannot keep 100% of IHS Nigeria. The operator is required to sell a 30% stake in the Nigerian business to local Nigerian investors, and must do so at a fair market price.

"MTN will sell down 30% of IHS Nigeria to local Nigerian investors, on an arm's-length commercial basis and subject to market conditions," the group said in the H1 2026 earnings release.

The clause is expected to protect local competitors and prevent a single foreign giant from holding total control over critical infrastructure. The concern reflects how the tower industry operates: rather than each carrier building its own masts, tower companies lease space on shared sites to multiple operators at once, so control of IHS Nigeria would place MTN in a landlord's position over infrastructure its rivals depend on. It also allows local businesses and investors to hold equity in essential national infrastructure such as telecom towers and fibre optic cables.

After MTN announced the agreement to acquire IHS Towers, Nigerian authorities said they wanted to assess the proposed acquisition for its impact on the telecoms industry and on fair competition. IHS Nigeria manages towers used by Airtel, T2mobile (formerly 9mobile) and other Nigerian telecom operators.

Dr Bosun Tijani, Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, explained at the time that the review was intended to ascertain the deal's impact on the long-term sustainability, investor confidence, and performance of the industry. It was also an effort to stabilise the telecoms sector as a critical pillar of Nigeria's digital economy.

With the approval secured and the search for local investors under way, the acquisition is set for completion by H2 2026, according to the group. Two questions will decide the final shape of the transaction: who the local buyers will be, and at what price the 30% stake changes hands. Since MTN has committed only to an arm's-length sale subject to market conditions, the eventual proceeds and the incoming shareholders will become clear only as talks progress.