By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-American Tower Corporation said on Monday it will acquire 4,800 wireless towers worth $1.05 billion from India’s top telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel Ltd in Nigeria, both companies said in a joint statement.

Bharti Airtel, is expected be the anchor tenant on the towers for the first 10 years, the deal is expected to close during the first half of 2015.

Jim Taiclet, American Tower’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in the statement that with the largest population and economy in Africa and relatively underdeveloped wireless infrastructure, the company view Nigeria as a tremendous growth opportunity.

‘’The deal will also help the company get closer to its goal of boosting per-share adjusted funds from operations by a double-digit percentage,’’ Taichet said.

Similarly, the company plans to buy 6,480 transmission sites in Brazil for about $1.2 billion, coupled with that of Nigeria, the firm will spend over $2.2 billion to further its international expansion.

According to the statement, American Tower owned about 70,000 mobile towers globally before the announcement of the two deals.

The deal will allow Bharti Airtel to cut cost in Nigeria and the several African countries its operating.

In the same vein, Christian de Faria, CEO of Bharti Airtel Africa said in the statement that Nigeria is the largest mobile market in Africa and a key one for Airtel. “American Tower has a proven track record in passive infrastructure management, and we look forward to benefiting from the best practices from all other countries it operates in,” he affirmed.

Bharti had earlier said it will sell more than 3,500 towers in Africa to Eaton Towers Ltd. in September. This came on the heels of a July agreement by the company to sell more than 3,000 towers in four (4) African countries to Helios Towers Africa, offloading infrastructure that can be more expensive to maintain compared with other parts of the world.