Our story
Formed in 2009, Helios Towers has grown into one of the leading independent tower companies across Africa and the Middle East.
Through disciplined M&A and operational excellence delivered by predominantly local teams, we’ve built a diversified platform that helps MNOs roll out reliable coverage faster, at lower cost and lower carbon - connecting people, powering growth.
2025
IMPACT 2030 sets the course for the next five years. Announced at our Capital Markets Day in November, the strategy outlines the next phase of our journey - combining leading growth, expanding returns and disciplined shareholder distributions as we scale our platform across Africa and the Middle East. In the same year, we proudly celebrated 15 years of operations, marking a significant milestone in our evolution from a single-market tower business to a leading independent towerco operating across nine high-growth markets.
2024
- Issued $850m public bond; delivered 2,481 tenancy additions for the year; continued uptime leadership (group record 1m16s downtime/week);
- RoSPA Silver Award;
- 58% of employees Lean Six Sigma trained.
2023
- Marked a decade of uninterrupted Adjusted EBITDA growth;
- Two consecutive quarters of record organic tenancy adds and record financial performance.
2022
- Closed Oman (2,519 sites) - first step into the Middle East;
- MSCI AAA ESG rating; added to FTSE4Good;
- Refreshed five-year Sustainable Business Strategy;
- Tom Greenwood appointed CEO.
2021
- Agreements with Airtel Africa for c.1,400 sites (Madagascar & Malawi);
- Agreement to acquire >2,500 sites from Omantel;
- First $300m convertible plus c.$110m equity; best-ever power uptime (1m10s downtime per site/week).
2020
- Signed agreement to acquire 1,200+ sites from Free Senegal
- Refinanced and raised $975m of bonds, lowering cost of debt by ~3%.
2019
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange (c.$360m float);
- Entered South Africa on a greenfield basis.
2017
Issued maiden $600m bond (9.125%).
2016
- Embedded Business Excellence company-wide;
- Acquired ~1,000 Airtel sites in DRC, accelerating rural coverage.
2015
Entered Congo Brazzaville via Airtel portfolio (~400 sites).
2014
Acquired Vodacom Tanzania’s 1,000+ sites - the first and only time the group sold an entire tower portfolio to an independent towerco.
2011
- Entered Tanzania and DRC via 1,200+ sites each from Tigo;
- Early operational excellence lifts Ghana availability from 99.2% to 99.9% in 18 months.
2010
- Pioneered Africa’s independent towerco model with the purchase of 800+ sites in Ghana;
- Initial $375m equity raised.
