(Telecompaper) MTN Group has reached an agreement in principle with IHS Holding for the transfer of its towers business in Nigeria. The transaction is expected to reduce MTN Nigeria's operating costs, drive network efficiencies and further expand MTN's voice and data capacity. Subject to regulatory approvals, the 9,151 towers will be transferred to a new company which will be owned jointly by MTN and IHS. IHS will have full operational control of the underlying business. The new towers company will market independent infrastructure sharing services to other mobile operators and ISPs in Nigeria. The transaction is expected to close in Q4. This is the ninth tower transaction for IHS and its fifth with MTN following deals in Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda and Zambia in 2012 and 2013. On completion of this transaction, IHS will manage over 20,000 towers in Africa. As part of the deal, the new towers company has committed more than USD 500 million of additional investment over four years into tower upgrades and a maintenance programme to improve quality of service and enhance the customer experience on the MTN Nigeria network. In addition, further investments will be made into IHS's Network Operations Centre in Nigeria to optimise operations and increase uptimes.