IHS Towers, a prominent global provider of shared communications infrastructure, has issued a directive for T2Mobile, formerly known as 9mobile, to vacate 2,576 tower sites. This mandate, which commenced in the third quarter of 2025, follows a comprehensive agreement review and a request for T2Mobile to address its long-standing debts. In its Q3 financial report, IHS Towers explicitly identified T2Mobile as its smallest Key Customer in Nigeria, underscoring the significance of this decision for both entities.

This development represents a substantial setback for T2Mobile's rebranding initiatives and its strategic positioning for a resurgence in the highly competitive Nigerian telecoms market. Since its origins as Etisalat, the company has consistently grappled with mounting debts, a shrinking subscriber base, and a discernible erosion of both market and investor confidence. While the relinquishment of over 2,500 tower sites could potentially lead to a reduction of operational costs, it simultaneously delivers a significant blow to its aspirations for growth and expansion. Furthermore, the company has struggled with customer satisfaction, evidenced by temporary service disruptions that impacted its data services, causing subscribers to experience prolonged outages in voice and data connections. Although normal services have since been restored, industry experts emphasize the critical importance for T2Mobile to proactively prevent network glitches to regain its lost market position and rebuild subscriber trust.

From a broader perspective, the Nigerian telecoms industry faces inherent challenges, including widespread vandalism of infrastructure and frequent fibre cuts. T2Mobile, already navigating this complex environment, finds its operational difficulties compounded by the loss of critical infrastructure. Losing access to leased sites can directly translate into a degradation of service quality, manifesting as increased dropped calls and slower data speeds, which inevitably risks driving more customers towards competitors. Concurrently, IHS Towers' Q3 2025 financial report showcased revenues of $455.1 million, an 8.3% year-on-year increase. Organic growth contributed $27.6 million, while inorganic revenue saw a decline of $12.8 million following its exit from Kuwait. Tenant churn directly attributable to 9mobile accounted for 2,576 of the total 3,529 site losses recorded during the quarter, bringing IHS's total tenant count down to 57,691.

Despite these considerable challenges, T2Mobile is actively pursuing various resurgence strategies and has secured key partnerships. In September, the company finalized a three-year spectrum lease agreement with MTN Nigeria, effective from October 1, 2025. This strategic arrangement will see MTN lease 5 MHz in the 900 MHz band and 15 MHz in the 1800 MHz band. Crucially, this agreement also includes a national roaming deal, enabling T2Mobile's subscribers to utilize MTN's robust infrastructure in areas where T2Mobile's own coverage is weaker, ensuring more consistent and reliable connectivity across the country.

Further enhancing its rebranding efforts, T2Mobile has entered into a multi-million-dollar partnership with Huawei, a global technology leader, to upgrade its network infrastructure. This collaboration aims to leverage Huawei's advanced technology to position T2Mobile to deliver resilient services both in the immediate and long term. Positive indicators of these strategic moves emerged from data released by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in August, which revealed that T2Mobile recorded a subscriber gain of 290,601 in July 2025. This notable increase, attributed to its rebranding initiatives and the national roaming agreement with MTN Nigeria, marked T2Mobile's first customer gain in two years, signaling a potential turning point for the embattled telecoms provider.