Wananchi Group has attracted $130m in a funding round led by Helios Investment Partners and the existing strategic shareholders Altice SA, Liberty Global, ECP and ATMT, to fund its growth and expansion in East and Southern Africa.

Alykhan Nathoo, partner at Helios, said: “Helios is excited to contribute to this latest growth capital financing for Wananchi. We have been extremely impressed with the significant successes Wananchi has accomplished to date, and look forward to working with the Wananchi team and its existing shareholders to achieve its growth goals.”

“We believe this capital injection will enable the Wananchi Group to extend the coverage of its infrastructure as well as build upon its strong broadband-led triple play product offering, including direct to home satellite products to many more tens of thousands ofconsumers across the greater Eastern Africa region and beyond,” added Dennis Aluanga, partner at Helios based in Kenya.

Established in Nairobi, Kenya, Wananchi is the leading provider of broadband and Pay TV services in Eastern Africa.

The group provides DTH services in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia.

In addition, Wananchi offers business services in a large number of African countries under the brand name Simbanet.

Richard Bell, Vice Chairman of Wananchi, said: “We will continue the deployment of fiber to the home networks in more cities in East Africa and extend our business services networks and product offerings across a wide variety of geographies and market segments.”

With our stronger balance sheet we will also invest in exciting new technologies and service platforms to improve the quality of our products and deliver a superior experience for our customers,” he said.