DR Congo: Eastcastle Infrastructure secures $32.8 million to deploy 728 telecom towers
August 10th 2026
While access to digital technology remains unequal across the Democratic Republic of Congo, the development of shared infrastructure appears to be key to serving the most remote areas. Alongside the government, the private sector is increasing its investment, aware of the opportunities to be seized.
The Emerging Infrastructure Fund for Africa and Asia (EAAIF), a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company managed by Ninety One, announced on Tuesday, August 4, the granting of a USD 32.8 million senior secured loan to Eastcastle Infrastructure DRC, the Congolese subsidiary of telecom tower operator Eastcastle Infrastructure. This financing is part of an expanded USD 179 million facility, which refinances the initial commitment made by EAAIF in 2023.
The funds are earmarked for the construction of 728 new passive telecommunications towers, which will increase the operator’s active network from 1,072 to 1,800 sites by the end of the program. 70% of this new infrastructure will be located in rural and under-connected areas, where the lack of shared towers is the main obstacle to mobile operator deployment.
The Democratic Republic of Congo had a mobile internet penetration rate of 33% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from the Congolese Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC). This situation is explained less by limited access to mobile devices than by low network coverage. In its report ” Driving Digital Transformation in the DRC: Opportunities, policy reforms and the role of mobile ,” the GSMA projected 2G, 3G, and 4G coverage rates in the country at 77%, 68%, and 57% respectively in 2025.
Beyond network expansion, the funding secured by Eastcastle Infrastructure DRC will also support the installation of solar panels and the upgrading of telecom sites to integrate lithium batteries, with the aim of improving energy efficiency, limiting the impact of failures in the national power grid, and reducing reliance on diesel.
Peter Lewis, co-founder and director of Eastcastle Infrastructure Ltd, welcomed ” this collaboration with EAAIF to develop our tower network, as we tackle the critical infrastructure bottleneck in the DRC while pursuing sustainable and energy-efficient connectivity .”
This operation adds to a series of financial support received by Eastcastle Infrastructure in recent years in the Central African country. The company, founded in 2020 by Peter Lewis and Pankaj Kulshrestha, two former Eaton Towers executives, had already benefited in 2023 from a $60 million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), supplemented by $34 million from Standard Bank of South Africa, to reach the milestone of 1,000 towers. Last April, the IFC also announced it was considering a further $59 million in funding, as part of its overall $179 million program.
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