Helios Towers CEO Tom Greenwood has highlighted the company’s partnership with Tanzanian utility TANESCO as a model for collaboration between telecom and energy providers in Africa. Speaking at the Mission 300 Africa summit, Greenwood emphasized the mutual benefits of such partnerships in expanding both digital and power infrastructure.
Helios has connected around 800 sites to Tanzania’s national grid over the past five years and has similar projects in Malawi. With 79% of its 14,000 towers grid-connected, Helios is pushing to reduce reliance on diesel generators, investing $100 million in low-carbon solutions by 2030.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Helios is leveraging local micro-grids to power sites while selling excess electricity to nearby communities. The company is also trialing wind and solar energy solutions in multiple markets, including Ghana, Oman, and Senegal.
Greenwood called for increased net metering partnerships, allowing surplus power from telecom sites to be fed back into national grids, boosting energy resilience across Africa.
Source: www.telcotitans.com
