South Africa’s Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve MTN Group’s proposed acquisition of IHS Towers, subject to conditions. The recommendation does not complete the regulatory process: the Tribunal retains the final decision. The distinction matters for a transaction that would bring MTN to full ownership of a company holding tower sites previously sold by MTN South Africa.
MTN announced an agreement in February 2026 to acquire the IHS shares it did not already own for approximately US$2.2 billion. The Commission’s recommendation advances the proposed deal, but approval remains a matter for the Tribunal, which will consider the transaction and its conditions.
Safeguards focus on access and customer treatment
The reported recommended conditions include fair and non-discriminatory access to towers and fair lease renewals. They also include protections against IHS customers being disadvantaged relative to MTN South Africa, alongside a requirement for IHS to remain operationally independent. Together, those provisions address how the tower business would deal with customers if its ownership changed.
For companies leasing tower space, the commercial issue is not solely who owns IHS. Access to sites, the terms available when leases are renewed, and whether customers are treated fairly relative to MTN South Africa are also relevant to their arrangements with the tower business. The reported safeguards speak to those issues, but the recommendation should not be read as a finding that the proposed conditions have already taken effect.
An earlier tower sale provides context
IHS acquired more than 5,700 MTN South Africa tower sites in 2022 in a transaction reported at R6.4 billion. That earlier sale explains why the proposed acquisition draws attention to tower access and leasing: the sites transferred to IHS are part of the ownership context for the current deal. The R6.4 billion figure relates to the 2022 tower-site sale, not to the proposed purchase of the remaining IHS shares.
The Commission’s approach separates a recommendation to approve the acquisition from an unconditional endorsement of it. Its reported conditions focus on the treatment of tower customers and on IHS’s operational independence under the proposed ownership structure. Whether the transaction proceeds on those terms depends on the Tribunal’s final decision.
