South Africa’s Competition Commission Backs MTN’s IHS Tower Deal, With Conditions
Regulator flags competition and public interest concerns and recommends conditions on jobs, ownership and tower access.
South Africa’s Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve MTN’s proposed acquisition of tower operator IHS Holding , on condition that the deal does not leave rival operators or local workers worse off.
The recommendation was announced on 30 September 2026 , following the Commission’s ordinary meetings on 22 and 28 September. At those meetings, the Commission reviewed mergers, acquisitions and other matters brought before it under the Competition Act.
MTN plans to buy IHS through Sub-Merger Co, a Cayman Islands vehicle wholly owned by Mobile Telephone Networks (Netherlands) B.V. IHS is also incorporated in the Cayman Islands and is not controlled by any other firm. It controls several companies in different countries, South Africa among them.
The two businesses sit at different points in the telecoms chain. MTN and the firms it controls make up a global communications group and mobile network operator. In South Africa, its subsidiaries provide fixed and mobile voice and data services, value-added and subscription services, mobile messaging, handsets and accessories, undersea cable capacity and landing station services, and wholesale services.
IHS is a global tower operator. It develops, owns, operates and provides shared communications infrastructure to mobile network operators and other licensed operators. Its work covers constructing, acquiring, operating, maintaining and commissioning passive infrastructure towers, with a focus on technology roll-out, power innovation and site security.
The Commission found that the deal raises both competition and public interest concerns. The overlap is plain: MTN is a mobile operator, and IHS provides tower infrastructure to mobile operators. Several of the recommended conditions target that relationship directly.
IHS must give mobile network operators (MNOs) and non-MNO customers fair, equitable and non-discriminatory access to its infrastructure, and MTN SA must not receive preferential treatment. Renewals of existing lease agreements have to be negotiated fairly, with no customer disadvantaged relative to MTN SA. Existing customer rights are preserved, competitively sensitive customer information is to be safeguarded, and IHS must remain an operationally independent entity.
On the public interest side, the conditions are meant to protect jobs and historically disadvantaged persons (HDP) ownership. They also support the participation of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and HDPs in new tower sites.
The Commission’s role is to recommend. The Competition Tribunal will now consider the matter and make the final decision. The statement does not disclose the deal value, how long the conditions would run or when the Tribunal is expected to rule.
