IHS Towers exits Brazil, Safaricom's data revenue overtakes voice calls

IHS Towers sold its Brazilian fibre business for $452.6 million and is completely exiting Latin America after selling Brazil and Colombia subsidiaries for $952 million total. The Nigerian-founded telecom infrastructure company is shifting focus to larger, high-growth African markets, having already exited Kuwait, Rwanda, and Peru. This strategy helped reduce IHS's debt-to-earnings ratio to 3.1x by end of 2025.

In Kenya, Safaricom crossed a major milestone as mobile data revenue (42.1%) overtook voice calls (41.3%) for the first time, contributing KES 83.4 billion ($646 million). Despite cutting data rates by 12.1%, usage grew 22.4% to 14.5 million users consuming 4.92GB monthly on average. Safaricom's net profit jumped 67% to KES 99.7 billion ($771.9 million).

African tech funding continues with Shiprazor (South African logistics) raising $2.65M seed, Rivia Clinics (Ghanaian healthtech) securing $200K, and VDL Fulfilment (Ghanaian logistics) getting $150K. For Nigerian tech professionals, Moonshot 2026 conference comes to Lagos October 28-29, and Naira Life 2028 conference happens August 22 in Lagos. With 35 million users, PalmPay is positioning itself as Nigeria's digital banking solution.

As African telcos shift focus from voice to data, Nigerian telecom companies should prioritize digital infrastructure. The funding trends show investors are betting on logistics and fintech in Africa—sectors where Nigerian startups have strong potential. Will your business strategy adapt to this data-first African market reality?

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/05/08/techcabal-daily-ihs-says-tchau-to-fibre/