IHS Cameroon to build tower kiosks in rural areas

Telecoms tower company IHS Cameroon, a subsidiary of IHS Towers, has committed to provide connectivity and digital services to rural communities in the northwest and southwest of Cameroon through its "Tower Kiosk" initiative.

Through the initiative, the tower company has pledged to build 10 digital kiosks in those regions by 2025.

The company added that the kiosks are specialized containers powered by adjacent tower hybrid solutions that contain four charging points and provide free Internet access and other digital devices to local communities.

"Through these services, the kiosks will help support local businesses and entrepreneurs, and provide the digital infrastructure to facilitate e-commerce, e-education, e-health, and e-governance activities. They will also serve as collection points for health-related community data," IHS Cameroon said in a statement.

IHS Cameroon CEO Olufemi Arosanyin said through this initiative and the power of connectivity, IHS want to help bring new opportunities to communities in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

"We hope the 'Tower Kiosk by IHS Cameroon' initiative will provide the infrastructure for people to access online resources and better engage in public life," the CEO added.

"Significant progress has been made in these regions to restore public life, and we are excited to see the Tower Kiosk by IHS Cameroon initiative begin," added Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

IHS Towers African footprint

The Tower company has in recent times been working toward expanding its reach on the African continent.

Just last week, IHS Nigeria and telecom operator Airtel Africa entered a partnership that will see Airtel Nigeria acquire a total of 3,950 tower tenancies over the next five years.

However, IHS Towers' relationship with the continent has not been as rosy. In September 2023, pan-Africa telecom operator MTN ended its deal with IHS Nigeria and signed with American Tower Corporation's (ATC) Nigerian subsidiary instead.

In November 2021, MTN announced it would sell over 5,700 towers in South Africa to IHS Towers for R6.4 billion (US$413 million at the time).

IHS Towers is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure providers in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

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*Top image source: evening_tao on Freepik.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa