Selam,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- MTN strikes $2.2B deal to acquire IHS Towers
- Nigeria launches data probe into Temu
- TikTok deletes 580K Kenyan videos after AI sweep
MTN strikes $6.2B deal to acquire IHS Towers
Remember this? MTN in talks to acquire remaining 75% of IHS
Here’s the latest on one of Africa’s biggest telecom moves, and it’s big news for the continent’s digital infrastructure. MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers, has agreed to buy out the rest of IHS Towers for $2.2 billion in an all-cash deal, meaning it will take full control of the tower company it once partly spun off.
Under the terms of the deal, IHS shareholders will receive $8.50 per share in cash, a healthy 36% premium over the company’s recent share price, and a huge uplift compared with where the stock traded when its strategic review began back in March 2024. The IHS board has already given the merger its blessing, and key investors like Wendel, which stands to collect about $535 million from selling its stake, are backing the plan. Once complete, IHS will disappear from public markets and become a private unit under MTN.
So why does this matter? Right now, MTN leases most of the towers it uses across Africa from IHS, from Nigeria to South Africa and beyond, so owning them outright reduces long-term costs, increases operational flexibility, and helps the operator better control network rollout, including 5G and fibre expansions as data demand soars. The deal also reverses a trend from years ago, where MTN and other telcos sold tower assets to third-party firms to raise cash.
The financing plan combines MTN’s existing roughly 24% stake in IHS, around $1.1 billion in MTN cash, another $1.1 billion from IHS’s own balance sheet, and a rollover of IHS debt. But this giant acquisition still needs approval from regulators and shareholders before closing later in 2026. If it goes through, MTN will directly control nearly 29,000 towers in Africa, a huge strategic asset in an era where connectivity and digital services are critical to growth.
The move could have wide-ranging effects across Africa’s telecom sector. IHS Towers provides infrastructure not only to MTN but also to Orange and Airtel in five African countries. Owning the network that competitors rely on could give MTN a strategic advantage — a concern highlighted by Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy. The ministry says it will conduct a thorough assessment of the deal, a process that may prompt other regulators to follow suit in the coming days. This is one development the industry will be watching closely.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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Nigeria launches data probe into Temu
Nigeria is turning up the heat on big tech again. This time, it’s Chinese eCommerce giant Temu in the regulator’s crosshairs. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an immediate investigation into the company’s data practices over possible breaches of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act), 2023.
Per the Commission, the probe was triggered by concerns around how Temu handles personal data, including allegations of online surveillance, lack of transparency, and potential violations of data minimisation rules. Regulators are also examining how Temu moves Nigerian user data across borders and whether it meets its accountability and duty-of-care obligations. Early findings suggest Temu processes data belonging to roughly 12.7 million Nigerians, a number large enough to raise eyebrows in Africa’s biggest internet market.
What this means is simple: Nigeria is flexing its digital sovereignty muscles. The NDPC isn’t just looking at Temu; it’s sending a broader signal to platforms operating in the country: comply with local data laws or face consequences. The Commission has also warned that third-party processors working with companies like Temu could be held directly liable if they fail to meet statutory requirements.
Temu, for its part, says it’s cooperating. In a statement, the company said protecting user privacy is a top priority and that it is committed to working with the regulator to address any concerns. But this isn’t happening in isolation. The NDPC has been increasingly assertive, previously probing TikTok and Truecaller, and slapping a ₦766.24 million fine on MultiChoice Nigeria over intrusive data processing.
Why does this matter? Because Nigeria has shown it’s willing to go after global giants. In 2025, regulators upheld a $220 million fine against Meta over exploitative practices, and similar scrutiny has followed fast-growing platforms across Africa. If the NDPC finds Temu in breach, it could mean heavy fines or operational restrictions, and it would further cement the message that data harvesting without accountability is no longer business as usual in Africa’s largest economy.
TikTok deletes 580K Kenyan videos after AI sweep
It’s feeling like TikTok is doing serious spring cleaning over in Kenya. The short-video giant said it used its AI moderation tools to pull more than 580,000 videos in just three months for breaking its community rules, and most of them were taken down before anyone even reported them.
Per TikTok’s own report for Q3 2025, about 91 per cent of violative content in Kenya was flagged and deleted automatically, thanks to machine learning and other automated systems. Nearly all of these clips were removed before users even saw them, and almost 95 per cent were gone within 24 hours of being posted.
That pullback wasn’t just for regular clips; around 90,000 live streams were also interrupted for breaching safety guidelines. TikTok’s community rules bar things like hate speech, violence, criminal promotion, sexual exploitation, misinformation, and other harmful material, so the company says this rapid enforcement is part of keeping the platform safe.
This massive sweep in Kenya follows a trend: TikTok has been ramping up enforcement all over the world and has even cut hundreds of thousands of videos earlier in 2025 for similar reasons. The big picture is that global platforms are doubling down on AI moderation to manage huge volumes of content, but that can sometimes mean legitimate clips get caught in the dragnet too.
Why it matters locally is that TikTok is one of Kenya’s most visited sites, especially among young people. With content being removed so aggressively and with AI handling much of the screening, creators might find themselves grappling with sudden takedowns or policy confusion, even if they didn’t mean any harm.
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Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa
