MTN Group and Airtel Africa have struck a deal to share mobile phone network infrastructure in Uganda and Nigeria, they said on Wednesday, aiming to save on investments while still increasing service coverage.

Mobile operators in Africa are seeing sustained demand for digital and financial services, but building and maintaining networks is expensive, especially for fast 5G connections.

“There are opportunities within regulatory frameworks for sharing resources to drive higher [operational] efficiencies and improve returns,” MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita said in a statement.

Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar said the agreement would avoid duplication of expensive infrastructure.

Sharing infrastructure allows operators to extend their network coverage more quickly, especially in rural or less densely populated areas where it might not be economically viable to build separate networks.

Following the conclusion of agreements in Uganda and Nigeria, MTN and Airtel Africa will explore various opportunities in other markets, including Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Zambia, the companies said.

Among the deals under consideration are radio access network sharing, the largest portion of the cost in network deployment and operation; commercial and technical agreements for fibre infrastructure sharing; and, if necessary, the construction of fibre networks, they added.