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TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 Post Event Report

Key market insights, working group reports and attendee profiles from the second annual Meetup Europe


(Chairman) Daniel Lee Managing DirectorIntrepid Advisory Partners

Zhiyong ZhangChairman & PresidentMiteno

Akhil GuptaChairmanBharti Infratel

Nat-sy MissamouSharing New Business Program Director, Orange

Nina TriantisManaging Director, Global, Head of Telecoms & MediaStandard Bank

Terry RhodesCEOEaton Towers

Marc GanziPresident, Digital Bridge &Mexico Tower Partners

Arun KapurCo-FounderIrrawaddy Green Towers

James Maclaurinformerly CEOedotco

David MurphyDirector - TMT, EMEAStandard Chartered Bank

Dagan KasavanaCEOPhoenix Tower International

Chuck GreenExecutive ChairmanHelios Towers Africa

Suresh SidhuCEOedotco

Malcolm CollinsChief ExecutiveCTIL

Ted ZhongFounder & CEO, Astro TowerQ Towers International

Hal HessEVP, International Operations andPresident, EMEA and Latin AmericaAmerican Tower

Nobel TanihahaPresident DirectorPT SOLUSI TUNAS PRATAMA (STP)

Umang DasChief MentorAmerican Tower

Gilles KuntzCEOTowerCo of Madagascar

Maria ScottiCEOTorrecom

David MeganckFounder and COOAcsys

Tilak Raj DuaDirector GeneralTAIPA

Dimitris LiouliasGM of StrategySaudi Telecom Company

Kurt BagwellPresident InternationalSBA Communications

Jim EisensteinChairman & CEOGrupo TorreSur

Bimal DayalCEOIndus Towers

Inder BajajAdvisor, Helios Investment Partners & former CEOHTN Towers

Tunde TitilayoVice ChairmanSWAP International

Jack DessayPartnerDrake Star Partners

Jeffrey EldredgePartnerVinson & Elkins

Enda HardimanManaging PartnerHardiman Telecommunications Ltd.

Adeel BajwaCEODhabi Group

Scott CoatesCEOWireless Infrastructure Group

Carlo RamellaCOO, EI Towersand Chairman, Towertel

Alexander ChubPresidentRussian Towers

With special thanks to the TowerXchange “Inner Circle”About TowerXchange

Founded in 2012, TowerXchange is your independent community for operators, towercos, investors and suppliers interested in EMEA, CALA and Asian towers. We’re a community of practitioners formed to promote and accelerate infrastructure sharing. TowerXchange don’t build, operate or invest in towers; we’re a neutral community host and commentator on telecoms infrastructure.

The TowerXchange Journal is free to qualifying recipients. We also provide webinars and regular meetups. TowerXchange monetises this community through hosting annual Meetups and the sale of advertising, without compromising editorial integrity.

TowerXchange was founded by Kieron Osmotherly, a TMT community host and events organiser with 21 years’ experience, and is governed with the support and advice of the TowerXchange “Inner Circle” – an informal network of advisors

Our informal network of advisers:

© 2017 Site Seven Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Neither the whole nor any substantial part of this publication may be re-produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the prior permission of Site Seven Media Ltd. Short extracts may be quoted if TowerXchange is cited as the source. TowerXchange is a trading name of Site Seven Media Ltd, registered in the UK. Company number 8293930.


Foreword

In April 2017 we were delighted to welcome over 250 European and global tower leaders to the second annual TowerXchange Meetup Europe, held at the Business Design Centre in London. The attendee list reads like a ‘who’s who’ of European towers, from the tower industry’s ‘founding fathers’ such as Ted Miller, Jimmy Eisenstein and Chuck Green to CXOs from Europe’s most acquisitive towercos Cellnex and ATC Europe. The continent’s unique tower market was highlighted by high attendance from JV infracos like TT-Networks, CTIL and MBNL and MNO-captive towercos including INWIT, Global Tower and National Tower Company who were present

in force alongside the continent’s large number of independent players.

As the asset class grows in popularity, the biggest investors in European towers including Brookfield, Macquarie, 4M, GIC and Allianz were joined by a host of public and private investors examining new opportunities in the market. In total 244 attendees, representing 32 towercos, 12 MNOs and 43 investment firms enjoyed two days of networking and benchmarking alongside a select number of suppliers at this unique event. On stage, discussions ranged from acquisition

opportunities to legal challenges, with a healthy amount of debate between experts on valuations, rollout timelines and market scale. The overarching theme which worked its way into every conversation was the future of telecoms networks in the face of 5G rollout - something which was discussed at both high levels and throughout our dedicated small cells content on the afternoon of the second day. When faced with such a huge opportunity for growth, towercos must act decisively and quickly in order to secure their place in a very complex market - and discussions around how best to do this permeated into every other topic at the Meetup. Off-stage, over 45 roundtable discussions took place, allowing participants to get under the skin of the topics most relevant to them. In addition, three working groups on tower power, RMS and small cells allowed tower owners to benchmark, compare notes and challenge leading vendors in the market on the reality of relevant solutions on offer. For the first time, we welcomed our partners at New Street Research to the Meetup Europe. Their parallel content allowed towerco CXOs direct access to 30 public investors with a keen interest in the European tower sector, and gave their attendees a unique chance to take the temperature of both public and private activity in the industry.

Save the date for TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2018, April 17-18, Business Design Centre, London

2017 was once again a sell-out


TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 at a glance

A packed out agenda and interactive sessions including:

Sponsors and exhibitors benefitted from:

Towerco 59

Investor 60

MNO 26

Advisory/Consultants 18

Energy Equipment 17

Small Cells 9

RMS/Monitoring 8

Law Firm 6

Managed Services 4

Backhaul 3

Static Assets 2

Other 2

Number of towers owned by 2017 attendees in excess of 280,000

59 Towerco attendees representing 32 towercos

60 investors from43 investment firms

26 operator attendees from12 MNOs

CXO28% SVP, VP,

Partner 23%

Director 23%

Senior Manager

26%Exposure to 35,000+

industry experts through our event publications

In depth technology working groups

Access to specialist roundtable discussions

Branding to over 250 attendees over 2 days

46 interactive roundtable discussions

39 senior panellists on

stage

5 dedicated small cell sessions

3 technology working groups

1 concurrent investor conference hosted by New Street Research

Industry breakdown

Seniority breakdown of 258 attendees


Praise for TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017

THE industry meeting ground to explore the evolving TowerCo business of Small Cells - Patrik Jakobson, Head of Network as-a-Service, Ericsson

The TowerXchange Meetup in London was an excellent event this year. Really well organised and in particular a great attendance of Industry players, Suppliers and advisers Well done to all the team involved. Looking forward to next year already -Colin Cunningham, CEO, Cignal

TowerXchange MeetUp is a must attend event to be at the cutting edge of tower industry - Alexey Podryabinnikov, Marketing Director, Russian Towers

Sold out expo Panel discussions


Praise for TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017

TowerXchange Meetup Europe - a must attend event - Janusz Skrzypkowski, Chairman, ECS

A unique meeting point for investors, MNOs and Tower CXOs to understand and exchange information -Torbjorn Teigen, CEO, Norkring AS

One of the best sessions i have come across over the years. Innovative and very informative. High quality attendees. -Joris Fleerackers, European Sales Manager, Deltanode Solutions

The unique meeting focused on wireless infrastructure that exceeded expectations - Paolo Crocetti, Director of Institutional Affairs, EI Towers

After hours networking Panel discussions


TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 attendee list

MNOs, towercos and JV infracos

Airtel Tanzania, Network Facilities SpecialistAmerican Tower, VP InternationalAmerican Tower, Chief Commercial OfficerAmerican Tower, VP Business DevelopmentArqiva, Chief Executive OfficerArqiva, Managing Director – Telecoms DivisionAxion, President and Chief Executive OfficerCellnex Telecom, Managing DirectorCellnex Telecom, M&A Manager, Business Development DirectionCellnex Telecom, Innovation & Product Strategy DirectorCellnex Telecom, Netherlands Country ManagerCellnex Telecom, Corporate & Public Affairs DirectorCellnex Telecom, Head of Investor RelationsCellnex Telecom, Strategy AdvisorCignal, Managing DirectorCignal, ChairmanCTIL, Chief Executive Officer

Deutsche Funkturm, SVP Sales and MarketingDeutsche Telekom, VP Technology ServicesEaton Towers, Co-Founderedotco Group, CEOEI Towers, CEO EI Towers, Chairman, TowerTelEI Towers, Director of Institutional AffairsEI Towers, Project ManagerEurasia Tower, CEOFirst Tower Company, CEOFirst Tower Company, CFOFPS Towers, CFOGlobal Tower, CEOGlobal Tower, CFOGlobal Tower, Non-Telco Services Sales DirectorGlobal Tower, ManagerGrupo TorreSur, Chairman and CEOHelios Towers Africa, Executive ChairmanHelios Towers Africa, CEOHelios Towers Africa, Group Director Sales & Marketing

Hibernian/Britannia Towers, Company DirectorHibernian/Britannia Towers, Company DirectorHightel Towers SpA, CEOHightel Towers SpA, COOINWIT, CEOLiberty Global, Managing DirectorLiberty Global, Vice PresidentLiberty Global, DirectorLiberty Global, VP Real Estate StrategyLogycom Group, Commercial DirectorMBNL, Managing DirectorMBNL, Property DirectorMBNL, Finance DirectorMBNL, Operations DirectorMobily, Head of M&ANOVEC, General ManagerNOVEC, Commercial DirectorNTT DOCOMO, Managing DirectorNTT DOCOMO, ManagerNTT DOCOMO, Senior Manager, Strategic MarketingRussian Towers, Co-FounderRussian Towers, Group PresidentRussian Towers, Commercial Director Russian Towers, Marketing DirectorSaudi Telecom Company, GM of StrategySaudi Telecom Company, Senior Consultant, Corporate StrategySBA Communications, VP International Service Telecom, CEOService Telecom, LawyerService-Telecom, Director, Business DevelopmentSpyder, DirectorTalkTalk Group, Director of Small Cell TechnologyTelenet, Director Operational FinanceTeliaCompany, Strategic Developments, Group TreasuryTeliaCompany, Director, Global Service OperationTelxius, Senior Representative


Towercom Ltd, Chief Executive OfficerTowercom Ltd, General ManagerTowercom Ltd, Business Development ManagerTT-Netværket, CEOTT-Netværket, Site ManagerVEON, Special AdvisorVEON, Director Business DevelopmentVertical, CEO Vertical, Strategy DirectorVodafone, Senior Manager: Infrastructure & EnergyVodafone, Category Manager: Network Site InfrastructureVodafone Procurement Company, Principal Category Manager, PropertyVodafone Procurement Company Sarl, Principal Group Supply Chain Manager Energy – Commercial & ServicesWireless Infrastructure Group, CEOWireless Infrastructure Group, COOWireless Infrastructure Group, Director

Investors, investment advisors, legal experts & technical consultants

4M Investments, President 4M Investments, Principal4M Investments, Corporate DevelopmentAkin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, PartnerAllen & Overy, PartnerAllen & Overy, PartnerAllianz Capital Partners, Managing Director AMP Capital, Investment DirectorAMP Capital, Principal, Infrastructure Asset ManagementAMP Capital, Investment DirectorAnalysys Mason, PrincipalAnalysys Mason, Partner, Head of London Office

Antin Infrastructure Partners, PartnerAPG Asset Management, Senior Portfolio Manager Arcus Infrastructure Partners, Senior Investment DirectorAshurst, PartnerAshurst, PartnerASTEM, Managing DirectorBrookfield Asset Management, Senior Vice PresidentBrookfield Asset Management, Senior Vice PresidentCapital Group, Investment ProfessionalCiti | Investment Banking, DirectorCommunication Infrastructure Partners, General Counsel Delmec, CTODelmec, Sales DirectorDelmec, International ManagerDelmec, Technical ManagerDigital Bridge, Managing Director, EMEAErnst & Young LLP, Director – TMT StrategyGenesis Investment Management, Partner, Portfolio ManagerGoldman Sachs, Executive DirectorHarbor Spring Capital, PartnerHardiman Telecommunications, PartnerHardiman Telecommunications, Managing PartnerHSBC, Managing DirectorING Bank, Head of Telecom and Media Finance EMEAING Bank, Director, TMT Finance EMEAInternational Finance Corporation (IFC), Chief Investment OfficerJonell Consulting, OwnerKempen & Co, Research AnalystKPR Consult, Group PresidentMacquarie, Vice President, Business DevelopmentMacquarie, AnalystNew Street Research, Partner

New Street Research, PartnerNew Street Research, Partner New Street Research, Telecoms AnalystNew Street Research, Telecoms AnalystNicholas O Dwyer, DirectorOch-Ziff, Managing DirectorPertinea, Managing PartnerPhilips Lytle, PartnerPSP Investments, Managing Director PSP Investments, Senior Director, Infrastructure InvestmentsRethink Technology Research, Research Director RBC Capital Markets, Managing DirectorRivulet, Managing PartnerRothschild, Director, Infrastructure TeamTillman Global Holdings, Vice President – Business DevelopmentTrylon, Vice PresidentTrylon, DirectorUFG Asset Management, Managing Director, PartnerVinson & Elkins RLLP, Senior RepresentativeVinson & Elkins RLLP, Senior Representative

Site management, remote monitoring and access control system suppliers

Abloy Oy, Head of CNIAbloy Oy, Sales and Product Manager – CLIQ SystemsAcsys Technologies Ltd, Chief Technology OfficerAcsys Technologies Ltd, COO and FounderAsentria, Director of Sales and MarketingInfozech, CEOInfozech, Business ManagerSiterra, An Accruent Product, Regional Vice President, SalesSiterra, An Accruent Product, Senior Account Executive



Tarantula, Chief Operating OfficerTarantula, Technical Documentation Manager

Energy equipment suppliers, ESCOs and cooling system providers

Beijing Dynamic Power Co. Ltd. (DPC), Marketing DirectorBeijing Dynamic Power Co. Ltd. (DPC), Deputy Director SalesBladon Jets, VP Market DevelopmentControllis, VP EMEA Dantherm, Senior Product ManagerEltek, Director, Product ManagementEnerSys, Sales Director – Telecom market EMEA and Reserve Power FranceEnerSys, Senior RepresentativeHIMOINSA, Sales and Marketing DirectorHIMOINSA, Network Development ManagerIntelligent Energy, Sales, Marketing & Business Development DirectorInternational Power Supply AD, Head of Telecom DivisionInternational Power Supply AD, Vice President – Business DevelopmentJabil Energy, Senior DirectorLeoch Battery, VP Global TelecomLeoch Battery, General ManagerMediPower, CEOMediPower, Export ManagerNorthStar Battery, Vice President Europe – Reserve PowerNorthStar Battery, South & West Europe Sales Manager Philadelphia scientific, Sales Director

Redflow, Sales Manager – EuropeVertiv, Vice President of Communication Networks EMEAVertiv, Director of Sales, Communication NetworksVertiv, Senior Director Global Accounts, Communication Networks

MSPs, tower manufacturers, small cells suppliers and others

Airspan, VP Marketing and Business DevelopmentAirspan, Senior Marketing ManagerCamusat, Chief Investment OfficerCommscope, VP Sales Europe

Electronic Control Systems, CEOElectronic Control Systems, Board MemberEricsson, Head of Network Sharing Intelsat, Director, Salesip.access, CTO & Head of PLMip.access, VP Neutral Host PlatformJCDecaux Link, Business Development DirectorKathrein, Sales ManagerMetalogalva, Telecom Business Unit ManagerNEC UK, Head of Business DevelopmentNTT Facilities, Senior ManagerOrion, PartnerRS.INFRA.PROJECTS, DirectorSpidercloud Wireless, Senior Representative



2017 Meetup Insights

Opened by TowerXchange’s ‘state of the market’ address, Meetup Europe 2017 went on to welcome some of Europe’s leading towerco CXOs to the stage, followed by key investors, small cell visionaries and global experts. The Meetup featured two Technology Working Groups, 48 interactive roundtable discussions and five dedicated small cell sessions. In addition to this the 248 attendees enjoyed a drinks reception and networking dinner and relevant investors were invited to join towerco briefings run by our partners at New Street Research. Read coverage of the key sessions and refresh your memory of the take home messages in this report: 11 TowerXchange’s up to date analysis of the European tower industry26 Towerco CXO insights and comment for 201729 What’s a tower worth?32 Changing dynamics in the UK tower market35 How a proliferation of towercos in Russia is helping to drive the business model37 Smart metering: how metering can reduce opex39 Outdoor distributed networks42 Indoor distributed networks

Plus: 46 European tower power working group report

www.towerxchange.com


TowerXchange’s analysis of the independent tower market in Europe

The recent TowerXchange Meetup Europe took the temperature of the European market, and showed that there’s no sign of the region’s tower activity cooling down.

While we put in place discussions revolving around various high-level topics, our senior speakers were drawn back again and again to the topic of 5G, including rollout timelines, macro tower developments, the need for infill and small cell opportunities. It’s clear a change is coming, and it brings with it huge opportunities but European infrastructure owners need to be ready to move quickly to stay ahead of the curve and position themselves as market leaders. We anticipate an increase in the frequency of deals such as Cellnex’s acquisition of Commscon and CTIL’s connectivity project with the City of London over the course of 2017.

Of course, macro infrastructure and rooftops continue to play an essential role in the European market and there are several processes still live; the sale of Sunrise’s 2,339 Swiss towers to a Cellnex-led consortium has just been announced, with Cellnex partnering for the first time with investors (Swiss Life and Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners) in order to raise the €430mn capital needed to secure the deal as well as contributing market knowledge.

In the CIS, VEON’s (formerly Vimpelcom) process to divest 12,400 towers in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia is still underway and the potential sale of their 13,000 Russian towers (currently carved out as National Tower Company) is still up in the air.

Figure one (a): Europe’s 18 telecom and broadcast towercos with >1,000 assets

Source: TowerXchange350

Deutsche Funkturm

Cellnex

RTRS

First Tower Company

National Tower Company

Telxius

INWIT

Arqiva

Global Tower

TDF

MTS Towers

CETIN

American Tower

EI Towers

Russian Towers

Rai Way

Vertical

Wireless Infrastructure Group

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

0

200

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Germany

Spain

Italy

UK

Turkey

Ukraine

France

Czech Republic

Ireland

Russia

Netherlands

Poland

Denmark

Slovakia

Finland

Kazakhstan

Serbia

Austria

Greece

Lithuania

Albania

Switzerland

Belarus

Turkish Republic of

Northern Cyprus

CALA

31,636

7,7257,413

16,000

11,000

14,000

11,000

10,550

13,000

2,804

7,398

4,800

5,500

3,300

2,350

2,300

2,300

2,197* 2,482*

1,900

2,500

50 50

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8,067 1,201 828 115

2,300 2,339

350

Deutsche Funkturm

Cellnex

RTRS

First Tower Company


Telxius

INWIT

Arqiva

Global Tower

TDF

MTS Towers

CETIN

American Tower

EI Towers

Russian Towers

Rai Way

Vertical


5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

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Germany

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Italy

UK

Turkey

Ukraine

France

Czech Republic

Ireland

Russia

Netherlands

Poland

Denmark

Slovakia

Finland

Kazakhstan

Serbia

Austria

Greece

Lithuania

Albania

Switzerland

Belarus

Turkish Republic of

Northern Cyprus

CALA

31,636

7,7257,413

16,000

11,000

14,000

11,000

10,550

13,000

2,804

7,398

4,800

5,500

3,300

2,350

2,300

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2,300 2,339

* Based on the assumption that announced deals will close in 2017

Figure one (b): Europe’s telecom and broadcast towercos with <1,000 towers

350

Deutsche Funkturm

Cellnex

RTRS

First Tower Company


Telxius

INWIT

Arqiva

Global Tower

TDF

MTS Towers

CETIN

American Tower

EI Towers

Russian Towers

Rai Way

Vertical


5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

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Italy

UK

Turkey

Ukraine

France

Czech Republic

Ireland

Russia

Netherlands

Poland

Denmark

Slovakia

Finland

Kazakhstan

Serbia

Austria

Greece

Lithuania

Albania

Switzerland

Belarus

Turkish Republic of

Northern Cyprus

CALA

31,636

7,7257,413

16,000

11,000

14,000

11,000

10,550

13,000

2,804

7,398

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5,500

3,300

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In the UK, Arqiva’s decision to turn away from an IPO has generated a huge amount of interest and potential buyers have been named, including CKI, the Hong Kong-listed holding company controlled by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing; GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, who were among the final bidders for a share in Telxius, losing out to KKR in the end; The winners of the Telxius bid, US private equity giant KKR; Ted Miller, known as the founder of Crown Castle and now heading up 4M Investments; and Germany’s Allianz (part of last year’s winning consortium in the £11bn battle for National Grid’s gas distribution network).

The fact the deal comes with an established client base and management team makes it an attractive prospect for financial investors, but it also represents a rare opportunity for a strategic investor to grab a huge share of the desirable UK market. Brookfield’s French broadcast and towerco TDF is believed to be interested, as of course is the rapidly expanding Spanish towerco Cellnex, who acquired 540 UK towers in 2016 as part of their acquisition of Shere Group. ATC Europe, American Tower’s European venture with Dutch investor PGGM, will also be looking to increase its European footprint in 2017. In addition, a UK deal may be a route into Europe for US-based towercos such as SBA Communications or Digital Bridge.

Of course, there is still plenty of potential in European towers for MNOs looking to release capital, towercos looking for opportunities and investors keen to tap into.

The current state of play in Europe

Let’s review the current state of the European tower industry country by country. A couple of caveats before you start reading: firstly, TowerXchange includes Russia, the CIS and former CIS States in our definition of Europe. Secondly, our definition of a “tower” is slightly different in Europe – when presenting tower counts, we are always interested in sites and structures that can accommodate multiple tenants, and which towercos might consider investible. While our tower statistics on emerging markets focus on ground based towers, in Europe we are equally interested in counting rooftop sites, but we exclude multi-tenant DAS, microcells and small cells from headline counts, at least until a single

small cell can be shared and monetised to multiple tenants.

TowerXchange tower counts are the result of qualitative market research and the aggregation of our own and other research firms’ work – as such they should be treated as estimates. We assert copyright over data sourced to TowerXchange – you will need to request our permission to quote our data and there may be a charge to do so.

CISUntil this point the CIS has been relatively low on tower activity, however this could well be about to change as Vimpelcom bring their towers to market in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia.

Figure two: Forecasted breakdown of ownership of Europe’s ~600,000 telecom tower and rooftop structures 2016-2019

Source: TowerXchange

MNO Captive

JV infraco

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0Q4’17Q4’16 Q4’18 Q4’19

369,395345,995

310,495 277,495

58,600 58,60058,600

56,600

91,347

80,658

80,94786,947

61,428

114,458143,958

204,477

Nu

mbe

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tow

ers

Operator-ledinfraco

Independenttowerco


Ukraine: Emerging from recession after political instability, Ukraine is a growth market with 3G yet to be extensively rolled out and 4G still on the horizon, meaning a potential 2,500 PoP could be added in the next three years.

Last year Turkcell carved out and transferred 811 lifecell towers to UkrTOWER, the local subsidiary of their captive towerco Global Tower. UkrTOWER’s current site count is 1,201, including a number of in building solutions, and the company boasts a healthy tenancy ratio. Outside of UkrTOWER, multiple sources on a market, so there is a significant margin for error in our site counts. While all parties agree VimpelCom has around 3,500 sites, around 60% of which are rooftops and 40% ground based towers, our best estimate is that Kcell

Figure three: breakdown of ownership of Europe’s ~600,000 telecom tower and rooftop structures as at the end of Q1 2017


MNO captive

JV infraco

Operator-led infraco

Independent towerco

369,395

58,600

91,347

80,658

owns around 5,500 towers and rooftops, with Altel and Tele2 combining a total of around 4,200 towers and rooftops. Third party structures make up around 30% of Kazakhstan’s mobile networks, and total at least 1,500, perhaps significantly more.

Georgia and Armenia consist of around 3,000 and 2,200 sites respectively. Around 65% of sites are rooftops, but less alternate site typologies are used than in Kazakhstan: just a handful of broadcast tower co-locations. Vimpelcom are believed to be bringing around 800 and 700 towers to market respectively - offering a towerco a chance to capture close to 25% of the towers in each market. Belarus: Global Tower has recently taken control of Turkcell’s towers in Belarus, where they have owned subsidiary BeST since 2008. Global Tower

currently operates 828 towers in the country.

Czech RepublicWith an ongoing project to decommission 35-40% of the country’s parallel infrastructure, TowerXchange estimate there are around 10,200 active cell sites in the Czech Republic’s telecom network, of which only around a quarter are ground based towers, with the balance being rooftops and IBS.

CETIN (Česká Telekomunikační Infrastruktura), an infraco carved out of O2, has 4,800 towers and 750 micro sites. CETIN’s business model includes all the physical assets which used to belong to O2, including active equipment and 38,000km of fibre, the MNO having been acquired by PPF and the infrastructure business spun off. CETIN absorbs O2’s RANsharing venture with T-Mobile, which operates under the MORAN model.

DenmarkInfrastructure sharing is State mandated in Denmark, where Telia and Telenor formed active infrastructure sharing joint venture TT-Network. There are around 4,500 towers in Denmark, with co-location management agreements managed through KPR Consult. Falck operates a small towerco in the country with around 75 towers, while Teracom operates the country’s broadcast towers.There is little possibility of sale and leasebacks in Denmark in the short term, but don’t discount the possibility in the medium to long term.

Finland There are around 10,000 towers in Finland, around half of which are owned by


incumbent operator Sonera, with the balance evenly distributed across the other MNOs Elisa and DNA. An active infrastructure sharing joint venture between Sonera and DNA increases the efficiency of providing coverage to the sparsely populated Northeastern region.

Digita operates Finland’s broadcast network, with 27 high masts and 480 smaller masts.

FranceThere are just over 25,000 ground based towers in France, of which 55% remain operator-captive. The remainder are divided among three independent towercos: broadcast-telecom hybrid TDF has 4,865 telecom towers, FPS Towers (acquired by ATC Europe) has 2,482, and Cellnex are in the process of

buying into the French market with 2,300 existing Bouygues towers and a further 1,200 in the pipeline. Network planners supplement their ground based tower network with sites on 7,500 other ground based structures and ~15,000 rooftops. TDF and FPS currently provide 10% of those rooftops sites, but both are positioning themselves to play a larger role in this segment of the ecosystem, and Cellnex’s most recent acquisition will make around 1,450 new rooftops available for colocation.

In December 2016 American Tower announced the acquisition of FPS Towers for €697mn, a deal which closed in February 2017, gaining them a significant foothold in the market and putting them into competition with French incumbent tower owner TDF. FPS’s ambitious plans for the French market

Estimated count of owned towers and rooftops

Kyivstar (VimpelCom)

Vodafone (MTS)

lifecell (Turkcell)

TriMob / UkrTelecom

UkrTOWER

Other third party sites

Kar-Tel (VimpelCom)

Kcell (Fintur)

Altel+Tele2

Kazakhtelecom

Other third party sites

7,400

6,000

4,000

2,0001,201

1,000


Ukraine Kazakhstan

3,500

5,500

4,200

7001,500

are expected to be capex-heavy over the next two to three years, and we will watch the dynamic between TDF, Cellnex and American Tower develop with interest over the coming months.

Meanwhile, Cellnex fairly quietly acquired 500 towers from Bouygues Telecom in two transactions in 2016, the first of which was for 230 towers at a valuation of €80mn and the subsequent tranche for 270 towers for €697mn, and in January 2017 they signed a deal with the aforementioned governing the transfer of 1,800 existing sites and 1,200 new build towers for a total of €354mn, giving them a good foothold in the market and a solid anchor tenant.

While there is fierce competition for subscribers among France’s four MNOs, which has driven down ARPU and tightened margins, there is a healthy culture of infrastructure sharing, with almost 5,000 MNO towers bilaterally shared, driving tenancy ratios on ground based towers to an average of 1.5.

GermanyThe German tower market may be characterised by slow growth, but it is entering a period of rapid change.

Telefónica transferred 2,350 German towers into their towerco Telxius in a deal valued at €587mn. After pulling their IPO due to low investor interest, Telefónica has since agreed the sale of a 40% stake to investor KKR for €1.3bn.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom are gearing up to monetise their towerco Deutsche Funkturm,


What is the breakdown of the high sites used by the French telecom industry? And who owns them?

Sources: TowerXchange research, ANFR, FPS Towers, TDF

Ground based towers1. Orange 8,1002. SFR 5,3003. TDF 4,8654. FPS/American Tower 2,4825. Cellnex (acquired from Bouygues) 8506. Free 3507. Other structures not belonging to towercos or MNOs 2,900 8. Other ground based structures 7,500

Rooftops structures with telecom equipment9. Rooftops sites sourced directly by MNOs 13,09010. Rooftop sites provided by TDF 30111. Rooftop sites provided by FPS Towers 15912. Rooftop sites sold to Cellnex 1,450 Rooftops without telecom equipment installed, but for which a towerco has a commercialisation agreement:13. TDF 2,98514. FPS Towers 20,000

8 912

13

14

1110

1

2

3

4

75

6

enthusiasm for an IPO is rumoured to have cooled after the Telxius and Global Tower IPOs failed to fly, but a sale or sale of an equity stake to a strategic investor could still be on the cards. Deutsche Funkturm operates over 27,000 sites in Germany, of which around 8,000 are ground based towers with the rest being rooftops. Subsidiary Omega Towers manages 7,700 further sites (mostly rooftops) transferred from Telefónica in July 2015.Deutsche Funkturm report that they are building “a significant number of new macro locations per year”; with three to four years of LTE rollout still to come, followed by 5G, there are drivers for modest organic growth.

Having seen only negative organic growth since they bought 2,031 towers from KPN in 2012, American Tower’s German site count jumped by 156 in Q216. Rumours that they were seeking third party investment turned out to be grounded, with Dutch pension fund PGGM paying €250mn for a 49% stake in their German operations, resulting in a joint venture, ‘ATC Europe’ which has already made an acquisition in the shape of France’s FPS Towers. With Deutsche Funkturm cooling on the idea of an IPO, it may be that there is potential for American Tower to consolidate their position in the German market in 2017.

Just 16,532 of Germany’s 70,136 cell sites are ground based towers – the rest are rooftops. The investability of German rooftop sites remains questionable: American Tower currently operates only ground based towers, Telefónica transferred only their ground based towers to Telxius, while


Telefónica has transferred 7,700 sites to Deutsche Funkturm (Omega Towers) with no financial compensation paid. Most of those 7,700 sites were rooftops, and as many as half of them could be decommissioned as they were duplicate sites from Telefónica’s merger with KPN.

Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone each has around 25-27,000 sites in total, whereas Telefónica has close to 39,000 – Telefónica plans to consolidate their network to a similar size to their rivals.

There are a total of around 23,000 co-locations in Germany, most being on Deutsche Funkturm and American Tower’s ground based towers, with tenancy ratios estimated at 2.5 and 1.8 respectively.

There are few co-locations on German rooftops as demands for supplementary payments from landlords ruin the economics.

GreeceWhile there are no independent towercos in the 12,000 site Greek market at present, tough economic conditions and the dominance of market leading Cosmote may prompt a sale and leaseback in the medium term.

Cosmote’s competitors Wind may have an appetite to monetise their towers, while the other MNO in Greece Vodafone has less financial incentive. Joint venture infraco VICTUS Networks currently manages Vodafone Greece and Wind Hellas’

Ground based towers:1. Deutsche Funkturm 8,0002. Vodafone 4,0003. Telxius 2,3504. American Tower 2,197 Rooftops:5. Deutsche Funkturm 15,9366. Omega Towers 7,7007. Vodafone 18,0008. Telefónica 11,968

Estimated breakdown of ground based towers and rooftops in Germany

Source: TowerXchange presentation, TowerXchange and RBC Capital Markets data

1

2

3

4 5

67

8

sites. There are around 10,500 tenants on VICTUS Networks’ 7,000 sites. Decommissioning could see VICTUS Networks’ site count fall to 6,000 and the tenancy ratio rise accordingly.

Broadcast towerco Digea owns 156 towers in Greece.

Ireland60% of Ireland’s 4,000 cell sites sit in the hands of the country’s three MNOs: Vodafone, Meteor and 3.The Irish market is still restructuring in the wake of 3’s acquisition of O2. The consolidation realigned network sharing partnerships previously between Vodafone and 3 (NetShare) and between Meteor and O2 (Mosaic), the latter of which remains in place with 3 joining the alliance, putting downward pressure on current and prospective future tenancy ratios.

With little prospect of sale and leasebacks in Ireland, the most likely source of tower transactions remains consolidation among the ten independent tower companies, broadcast operators and public sector players. Indeed, Irish towerco Cignal recently added over 30 towers to its portfolio through the acquisition of Cellcom.

ItalyWith the merger of 3 and WIND now announced, and Iliad confirmed as a new entrant into the Italian market, all eyes are on how this will play out. Already, Iliad owner Xavier Niel, known as the enfant terrible of the French telecoms sector,


Who owns Italy’s 47,218 telecom and broadcast sites?Telecom

INWIT

Vodafone

Cellnex

Hutchison

Wind

TowerTel

OthersEI Towers

Rai Way

Broadcast

11,000

11,400

2,3002,300

8,757

~7,000

2,600

10002,000


Who owns Ireland’s 4,000 towers?

*150 owned towers with additional ground lease income on 400 plots of land on which Cignal and 3rd party towers sit


3 + O2 (Hutchison)VodafoneMeteor (Eir)TowercomShared AccessESB Telecoms2RN (RTE)Cignal*CIEHighpoint (Obelisk)Hibernian (Britannia)Wireless Infrastructure Group1,100

800

500

400 377

377

150150*

100

5070

100

is locked in a war of words with the incumbent operators, who fear the introduction of new business models and aggressive price wars. Although no set plan of action is in place for Italy’s infrastructure, it’s widely believed that Iliad’s requirements will ‘free up’ around 5,000 towers, which may well come to market in the coming months and which will be of interest to several parties.

Currently, INWIT, Cellnex and EI Towers’ TowerTel lead the telecom tower market in Italy, where towercos own just under half the total sites, and where decommissioning may outstrip organic growth in the coming years.

TIM retains a 60% equity stake in INWIT, with the balance having been floated on the Milan Stock Exchange in June 2015, and had initiated a process to sell some or all of their retained equity, with EI Towers and Cellnex (in partnership with Italy’s leading infrastructure F2i) leading the race to acquire the company.

The process to monetise INWIT further has been halted, ostensibly because the TIM management team believes that several value adds have yet to reach fruition and are not yet reflected in INWIT’s valuation.

In the last year INWIT has decommissioned around further 200 sites, bringing their Q117 site count to 11,000. INWIT raised tenancy ratios by 0.8 from 1.67 to 1.75 over the same period. By the end of 2018, INWIT forecasts driving tenancy ratios to around


Estimated tower ownership and rooftop usage in The Netherlands

Open Tower Company

Shere Group/Cellnex

Protelindo / Cellnex

Other towercos (inc WIG)

Vodafone/Liberty Global

T-Mobile

Rooftops


860

12,173

460

261200

600

650

1.9, decommissioning 800-1,000 more sites, and building as many as 500 new sites, primarily for TIM’s 4G rollout.

The continent’s largest pan-European towerco, Cellnex, has rollup up several small towercos in Italy, but the lion’s share of their portfolio comes from the acquisition of Wind’s towerco Galata, and their 7,377 towers, for €693mn in 2015. At the end of Q117, Cellnex operated 8,757 sites in Italy, with build-to-suit slightly outstripping decommissioning.Both INWIT and Cellnex remain bullish about the potential of small cells in Italy, highlighted by Cellnex’s acquisition of CommsCon for €18.65mn in June 2016.

Cellnex’s principal rival in the INWIT process had been EI Towers, whose telecom-focused subsidiary TowerTel has built and acquired a portfolio of 1,000 telecom towers with an aggregate EV of up to €55mn, ~300 of which have been added through several small acquisitions.

EI Towers continues to court a much bigger deal: the acquisition of Italy’s other broadcast towerco, RAIWAY, which owns around 2,300 towers, again with some MNO tenancies. Consolidation would represent another opportunity to create significant efficiencies through decommissioning – around 60% of Italy’s broadcast towers are in overlapping locations. This merger is believed to be back on the cards after positive comments from Italian officials, despite some legal questions being raised when the deal was first mooted in 2015.

The NetherlandsOnly 20% of The Netherlands’ 15,204 cell sites are macro cell sites, with the balance being rooftops, DAS and small cells.

Cellnex has acquired Protelindo’s 261 Dutch towers for €109mn, (and is now marketing the towers under the name ‘Towerlink Netherlands’), and a further 464 as part of their deal with Shere Group. There is no duplication between the two sites. Cellnex own 725 towers, or 23.9% of the macro towers in The Netherlands, where 1,781 (59%) of the country’s 3,031 ground based towers are already owned by towercos. Market leader Open Tower Company has around 850 towers, plus access to over 1,000 electricity pylons and is rumoured to

be looking for buyers in 2017. UK headquartered Wireless Infrastructure Group is also present in The Netherlands.

KPN sold their towers in four tranches between 2008-12, while Vodafone and T-Mobile retain around 1,250 towers between them. New entrant fourth MNO Tele2 has few if any towers, preferring to rely on co-location and a RANsharing deal with T-Mobile.

PolandThere are around 22,000 telecom structures in the Polish network, a little under half of which are towers, with the rest being rooftops.


Mobile tower ownership in Portugal


MEO

Vodafone

NOS

Alternate site typologies

3,000

4,700

2,500

1,300

Poland has more subscribers per tower than the majority of other countries in Europe, indicating both potential demand for more towers, and indicating the extent of decommissioning that has already taken place in the country. A balanced, competitive MNO market amplifies the attractiveness of the Polish market to towercos.T-Mobile and Orange share passive and active infrastructure in Poland through 50-50 joint venture NetWorkS! Initiated in 2011, the partnership was intended to last 15 years, but there has been speculation that one or both party might wish to exit the venture and sell towers to a third party. While NetWorkS! operates around 13,000 towers, the assets remain on T-Mobile and Orange’s own balance sheets. Outside of the NetWorkS! venture, as little as 2% of Poland’s towers are shared between multiple MNOs.

Alinda Capital Partners owned Emitel is the Polish broadcast towerco, operating 377 sites and diversifying into telecom.

Turnkey infrastructure provider ECS is leveraging new capital from CEE Equity Partners to move into tower ownership and leasing.

PortugalThe Portuguese tower market has been dormant since rumors of a prospective sale and leaseback by Portugal Telecom over two years ago. Little has been heard since Altice acquired PT in 2015. However, Portugal has started to appear on the radar of one of Europe’s largest towercos – a market to watch!

RomaniaRomania hosts a competitive four MNO market, with no independent towerco activity to date. Orange and Vodafone Romania operate a joint venture infrastructure sharing company called Netgrid Telecom (formerly Ovidu Telecommunications).

Despite being one of the poorest countries in Europe, ARPU is relatively high in Romania at around €20, which means there is little financial imperative for the country’s MNOs to monetise their towers.

RussiaTowerXchange estimate there are around 57,200 ground based towers and 65,400 rooftop structures across the vast Russian landscape. Each of Russia’s four MNOs is utilising tower company business

models, but in contrasting ways.

Veon has put tower monetisation at the heart of a balance sheet restructuring plan, with the creation of ‘National Tower Company’, into which they have injected their ~13,000 Russian towers, the sale of National Tower Company to a Russian independent towerco was expected to be announced early in Q2 2017 - the future of the asset now looks unclear. MegaFon has carved out ‘First Tower Company’ with a possible view to a future sale to a strategic buyer. MTS has injected part of their portfolio, 5,500 towers, into ‘MTS Towers’ with a view to making the towers available for co-location, but has declared an intent to retain ownership of the venture. Meanwhile, rumors persist that Tele2 Russia are selling their ~9,000 towers.

Leading local towercos Russian Towers and


Estimated ownership of Spain’s 48,997 telecom and broadcast sites

CellnexAxionOrangeTelxiusVodafone


7,413

11,00017,500

12,500 584

Ground based towers:1. First Tower Company (MegaFon) 14,0002. National Tower Company (VimpelCom) 13,0003. MTS Towers 11,0004. MTS retained towers 5,5005. Tele2 Russia 9,0006. Russian Towers 2,5007. Vertical 2,3008. Service-telecom 3509 Link Development 20010. Other towercos 250

11. Rooftops 65,400

Estimated breakdown of ground based towers and rooftops in Russia


1

2

3

4

5

67 8

910

11

Vertical, as well as the Russian Direct Investment Fund, are all expected to be prominent bidders as Russia’s towers come to market, with Russian Towers expected to secure the VimpelCom towers. Russian Towers is also undergoing a period of sustained organic growth, growing from ~2,300 towers to ~2,500 over Q117. Newcomer Service-Telecom is also keen to expand rapidly, with talks of consolidation in the Russian market and ambitious plans to grow organically by leveraging their relationships with Russian MNOs.

SerbiaManaged service provider Konsing Group, which also owns a portfolio of 47 sites, counts all three MNOs among their client base (Telekom Serbia, Telenor and Telekom Austria).

SlovakiaBroadcast towerco Towercom, which has around 700 sites, was acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure Fund in 2013. Towercom turns over in excess of €50mn annually and includes O2, T-Mobile and Orange among their customer base. Towercom completed the roll up of TBDS, RK Tower and Rádiokomunikácie in 2008.

Spain39% of the 48,997 broadcast and telecom towers and rooftops in Spain are owned by towercos, led by Telefónica’s new towerco Telxius and European market-maker Cellnex. One is headquartered in Madrid, the other Barcelona, so the battle for tenancies could be as fierce as any El Classico!Cellnex has seen fast growth in its telecoms arm, deriving €385mn of its €707mn revenue from


CTIL12,000

500Shared Source: TowerXchange

Co-locations

500

MBNL12,000

Independent towercos

14,500

Who owns/operates the UK’s 38,500 active cell sites?

Russia117,700

Germany70,136

Spain48,997

Figure four: Estimated tower and rooftop counts for selected markets in Europe


France47,347

Italy47,218

UK38,500

Kazakh- stan15,400

Netherlands15,204

Poland22,000

Czech Republic10,200

Portugal6,800

Finland10,000

Ukraine21,600

Greece12,000

telecoms, an increase of 27% yoy. In 2016 they expanded from two to five countries, spending €668mn on the acquisition of Commscon in Italy, Protelindo Netherlands, Shere Group in the UK and Netherlands and 500 towers from Bouygues telecom in France.

In 2016, Telefónica transferred 11,000 Spanish towers and rooftops to their towerco Telxius for an undisclosed sum ahead of ahead of their planned IPO, however, the IPO was scrapped in October 2016 due to lack of interest in the market. Telefónica has since agreed the sale of a 40% stake in Telxius to investment firm KKR for €1.3bn.

Denmark4,500

Ireland4,000

Georgia 3,000

Armenia 2,200

AMP Capital has agreed a deal to acquire 100% of Axion from current owners Antin Infrastructure. Axion operates 584 broadcast towers, with some telecom co-location, 70% of which are in Andalucía.

SwedenThere are no independent tower companies in Sweden, largely because network sharing is efficiently managed through three network sharing joint ventures.

SUNAB is a 50-50 3G joint venture between Tele2 and TeliaSonera which runs the MOCN RANsharing model; Net4Mobility, another 50-50 joint venture,

runs Telenor and Tele2’s combined 2G and 4G network; and 3GIS is a joint venture running Telenor and 3’s 3G network outside of Sweden’s largest cities.

Teracom operates Sweden’s broadcast tower network. There are a little over 10,000 sites in Sweden.

SwitzerlandCellnex acquired 2,339 towers from Sunrise in May 2017, creating Switzerland’s first fully fledged towerco Swiss Towers AG. Working with partners Swiss Life and Deutsche Telecom Capital Partners,


the Cellnex-led consortium paid €430mn for roughly 20% of Switzerland’s 11,300 towers, mostly in rooftop locations. With future build to suit as well as 200 DAS nodes agreed in the deal, Cellnex sees a chance for significant growth through data usage and 5G rollout in this central European country.

TurkeyTurkcell, Turkey’s largest mobile network operator, announced plans to list their towers unit, Global Tower, in April 2016. However in October 2016 Turkcell decided to postpone the IPO at the eleventh hour, citing global political uncertainty and the possibility of cyber attacks. TowerXchange believes that Turkcell planned to list 25% of the business and was perhaps hoping for a more Cellnex-like valuation multiple than was likely to be achieved. With Turkcell making ambitious plans to support revenue growth through expansion into overseas markets, an IPO or sale is certainly not off the agenda, however, and we believe there may be considerable value in Turkcell identifying a strategic

Year Seller Entity and # towers Equity%Buyer/Stock Exchange Deal Value


1,300,000,000

Undisclosed

Undisclosed

875,300,000

2,138,000,000

70,000,000

16,000

2,197

584

11,200

15,091

300

KKR

PGGM

AMP Capital

MIB

MCE

InfraVia Capital Partners

2017

2016

2016

2015

2015

2015

40%

49%

100%

40%

66%

100%

Telxius

American Tower Germany

Axion

INWIT

Cellnex

Telecoms assets

Telefonica

American Tower

Antin Infrastructure Partners

Telecom Italia

Abertis

Coillte

Major European towerco equity deals and listings since 2016

partner who could support their expansion plans.

Established in 2006, Global Tower has 8,067 ground based towers among a portfolio of over 23,000 sites. Of these macro towers, TowerXchange believes that Global Tower owns around 3,400 and leases around 2,390 from Turkcell, for which they only receive revenue from co-locations. In addition they manage a portfolio of around 2,215 towers on behalf of Turkcell, for which they just receive maintenance fees.

Turkey is also home to one of the world’s largest government-owned universal service networks, with over 1,100 RANshared base stations deployed in rural areas. Turkey’s three MNOs take it in turns to manage the rural network.

United KingdomThe UK has a tower market structure unlike any other in the world. Independent towercos, headed by Arqiva and Wireless Infrastructure Group and

Shere Group (recently acquired by Cellnex), own 38% of the 38,500 active towers in the UK. The balance are contained within two joint venture infracos: CTIL, which operates Vodafone and O2’s network (Telefónica), and MBNL, which performs a similar function for EE (now BT) and 3 (Hutchison). CTIL and MBNL are both the primary clients of the UK’s independent towercos, and site sharing businesses in their own right. Their business models differ in that the tower assets are actually on CTIL’s balance sheet, while MBNL is a management company with the assets retained by the MNOs. CTIL is a passive infrastructure sharing play, while MBNL’s model extends to active infrastructure and transmission sharing.

When the merger between O2 and 3 was mooted, it seemed that the realignment of partnerships might create a window to monetise one or both JV infracos, but in the aftermath of the EU vetoing consolidation, it’s very much business as usual in the UK tower market. Not that business as usual


is uneventful: the UK is home to one of the largest decommissioning programmes on the planet, while CTIL and MBNL are also leading the rollout of 4G. The UK’s broadcast tower operator Arqiva has been through many changes of identity and ownership (BBC, Crown Castle, National Grid to name a few), and the 10,550 tower giant was planning to list on the London Stock Exchange, but is now believed to be well underway with a £5bn sale, with interested bidders rumoured to include CKI, the Hong Kong-listed holding company controlled by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing; GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, who were among the final bidders for a share in Telxius, losing out to KKR in the end; The winners of the Telxius bid, US private equity giant KKR; Ted Miller, known as the founder of Crown Castle and now heading up 4M Investments; and Germany’s Allianz (part of last year’s winning consortium in the £11bn battle for National Grid’s gas distribution network).

The fact the deal comes with an established client base and management team makes it an attractive prospect for financial investors, but it also represents a rare opportunity for a strategic investor to grab a huge share of the desirable UK market. Brookfield’s French broadcast and towerco TDF is believed to be interested, as of course is the rapidly expanding Spanish towerco Cellnex, who acquired 540 UK towers in 2016 as part of their acquisition of Shere Group. ATC Europe, American Tower’s European venture with Dutch investor PGGM, will also be looking to increase its European footprint in 2017. In addition, a UK deal may be a route into Europe for US-based towercos such as SBA Communications or Digital Bridge


Meetup Africa& ME 20173-4 October,Johannesburg

Meetup Asia201712-13 December,Singapore

upMeetAmericas 201820-21 June,Boca Raton

See you at our future events!

Meetup Europe 201817-18 April,London


European tower deals since 2008

Year Country Seller Buyer Tower countCost per tower € Deal structureDeal value €


183,839

284,666

280,821

391,434

347,826

248,148

417,624

249,787

58,964

126,866

93,941

446,226

90,016

100,400

193,501

287,356

250,000

90,000

147,082

SLB

SLB

Company acquisition

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB

SLB

Portfolio acquisition

Asset Transfer


SLB with 10% equity

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB with 15% equity

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

430,000,000

854,000,000

697,000,000

393,000,000

80,000,000

67,000,000

109,000,000

587,000,000

47,820,000

17,000,000

693,000,000

94,600,000

385,000,000

185,000,000

393,000,000

75,000,000

115,000,000

45,000,000

3,286,420,000

2,339

3,000

2,482

1,004

230

270

261

2,350

811

11,000

113

7,700

134

7,377

212

4,277

2,166

2,031

261

460

500

500

101

41,758

2017

2017

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2015

2015

2015

2015

2015

2014

2012

2012

2012

2012

2012

2010

2008

Cellnex, Swiss Life and DTCP

Cellnex

American Tower

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

Telxius

UkrTower

Telxius

Cignal

Deutsche Telecom/ Omega Towers

EI Towers

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

FPS Towers

American Tower

Protelindo

Shere Group

Cellnex

Open Tower Company

Open Tower Company

Totals / average

Sunrise

Bouygues

Antin/FPS

Shere Group

Bouygues Telecom

Bouygues Telecom

Protelindo

Telefonica

Lifecell

Telefonica

Coillte

Telefonica

Tecnorad

Wind (VimpelCom)

TowerCo

Telefonica/Yoigo

Bouygues Telecom

KPN

KPN

KPN

Telefonica

KPN

KPN

Switzerland

France

France

UK & Netherlands

France

France

Netherlands

Germany

Ukraine

Spain

Ireland

Germany

Italy

Italy

Italy

Spain

France

Germany

Netherlands

Netherlands

Spain

Netherlands

Netherlands


123456

European heatmap

TowerXchange research has not revealed any infracos or

towercos to date

Towercos or infracos active in the market. No recent

transactions have taken place and none rumoured to take

place soon

Towercos or infracos active in the market. No current

transactions taking place but an attempted tower sale has

taken place in the last 3 years or there are unconfirmed

rumours of a deal in this market.

Towercos or infracos active in the market. Rumours of deals

confirmed in the market.

Towercos or infracos active in the market. Deals of significant

size have taken place in the last 5 years.

Towercos or infracos active in the market. Deals have taken

place in the last year and more imminent deals rumoured

Legend

Note: For the purposes of our European coverage, ‘Towerco’ describes an independent company which owns and operates passive infrastructure for commercial profit. ‘Infraco’ incorporates MNO joint venture organisations and carve outs which serve more than one entity or market their towers commercially



Keywords: 4G, 5G, C-Level Perspective, CTIL, Cellnex, Co-locations, Country Risk, DAS, EWIA, Europe, Europe Insights, Fibre, INWIT, Infill, Infrastructure Sharing, IoT, Italy, LTE, Market Overview, Network Rollout, Operator-Led JV, Regulation, Russia, Russia & CIS, Russian Tower, Small Cells, Spain, Towercos, UK, Wireless Infrastructure Group

Finding a path in unchartered waters: towerco leaders discuss network evolutionCXOs of Europe’s biggest towercos share their visions and expectations for the future of telecoms infrastructure

Comparing Europe to the rest of the world Compared to the rest of the world, the European tower market has its own peculiarities. It’s at a very early stage versus the US, with only around 30% of towers owned by towercos and infracos in Europe and 80% towerco-owned in the US. Tenancy ratios are also very different and tax frameworks vary enormously, according to a group of C-level executives at TowerXchange’s second annual Meetup Europe in April.

In terms of governance, the prevalence of MNO-owned towercos and JV Infracos in Europe makes it very different from the US or African markets, where towercos are independently owned. In addition in Europe growth through new build is not as big an opportunity as in other markets, creating a second value driver for towercos in decommissioning and rationalisation. Oscar Cicchetti, CEO of INWIT, raised the question of deeper collaboration between towercos and MNOs in the deployment of new network architectures to support expended 4G and 5G rollout.

Tower ownership and business models

Russian Towers’ CEO, Alexander Chub, agreed that 4G rollout has been a big opportunity for towercos, explaining that, as Russian infrastructure was 100% controlled by MNOs, and infrastructure was their route to penetrating the market. Due to the urban nature of the Russian market, a lot of the new infrastructure being built tends to be new

Read this article to learn:< How the European tower market differs from the rest of the world < 4G rollout status across Europe < What towercos are doing to prepare for 5G < Where future opportunities lie in European telecoms infrastructure

CXO panel at TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017

At the TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017, which took place at the Business Design Centre in London on April 4-5, over 250 senior tower execs met, networked and shared experiences. The keynote panel addressed the future of European towers from completing 4G rollout to assessing the potential shape of 5G, with a look at regulations and challenges along the way. Joining the panel and sharing their experiences were: Malcolm Collins, CEO of UK based JV CTIL, Alex Mestre, ‘deal-maker-in-chief’ for leading towerco Cellnex, Oscar Cicchetti, former CTO of Telecom Italia and now CEO of their successful tower spin out INWIT, Scott Coates, CEO of Wireless Infrastructure Group and Chair of the European Wireless Infrastructure Association and Alexander Chub, expert in Russian technology and communications and President of Russian Towers.


types of poles, rather than regular macro towers. In Russia, the service model, rather than a ‘real estate’ model is coming to the fore - inventing incremental services in improving site effectiveness, network planning and in future perhaps even big data services.

Malcolm Collins, CEO of UK-based JV Infraco CTIL, agreed that consolidation and decommissioning are key, with their business model always based on rationalisation of the network while also improving rural coverage. In terms of rural coverage, it seems towercos may be missing an opportunity, as CTIL has looked to increase rural coverage by around 1,200-1,500 towers over the last year but found towerco offerings in the locations they wanted to be prohibitively expensive including transmission and power, meaning they have built their own.

Scott Coates, CEO of Wireless Infrastructure Group, agreed that the push into rural areas is gaining momentum, in many ways due to increased political will to cover rural ‘black spots’. When considering in which direction to move tower portfolios, demand is growing at street level for small cells as the forerunners of 5G infrastructure. Momentum is growing and the European market has passed take off velocity.

Alex Mestre, Director International and Business Development at Cellnex, agreed that 5G is snowballing, and commented that the 5G hype at Mobile World Congress this year was massive. A push from vendors to force a new wave of

investment which is crunching the economics of the operators, and will perhaps trigger an increase in sale and leaseback activity in Europe.

New opportunities

MNOs who are not in a position to sell their towers are nonetheless interested in rationalisation and opex savings, so the fact that towercos are led by

operational rather than financial management means they still have capacity to support MNOs in opex management. Towercos can also add value to help mutualise elements beyond just the tower such as fibre, a new wave of small cells deployment and decommissioning. In addition rooftops, which have thus far not been considered ‘a real tower’ from a towerco business point of view, are making up an increasingly large part of the ecosystem.


When discussing the implications of the new IFRS 16 standard, the participants agreed that not all of their customers would be adversely affected, as it benefits some MNOs to have the cost on their balance sheet.

Status update on 4G rollout

In terms of completing 4G rollout and moving

into 5G, the panellists agreed that many western European countries are close to reaching ‘peak 4G’ in the next 12-18 months, with almost 100% coverage across the board, although additional frequencies being added will mean more equipment at the base of each tower will be needed. In Russia more density is needed, with analysts anticipating the need for another 30,000-50,000 new base stations across city and transport infrastructure.

As technology evolves from 4G to LTE Advanced, and then towards 5G, there will be increasing opportunities for towercos, with the jump from 4G to 5G potentially moving the towerco from real estate to service companies. However, to do so the whole ecosystem must open up to sharing more than towers. There’s already a blurring of boundaries between previously separate businesses and as they focus on a different layer and scope of competition, horizontal integration is key.

The panel stated that one of the biggest barriers to 5G rollout is regulation and transmission. The UK government is tacking this issue with the Digital Economy Bill, which changes the whole valuation process for land, in order to try and reduce costs and accelerate deployment of the infrastructure needed to support 5G rollout.

While demand for data is growing, infrastructure in Europe needs to be updated. The panel agreed that we will see an increase in carrier aggregation to reuse frequency, while indoor coverage and more frequencies in the higher range were also discussed as likely solutions and drivers for more points of presence.

It’s not just MNOs who will need denser networks of course, with Cellnex stating that more than half of their growth comes from non-MNO tenants such as fixed wireless access, public safety and IoT providers, customer diversification is key to driving up tenancies across Europe


Keywords: 5G, Arcus Infrastructure Partners, C-Level Perspective, Cashflow Finance, Cellnex, Country Risk, EBITDA, Europe, Europe Insights, Exit Strategy, Fibre, Forex,Goldman Sachs, Infrastructure Funds, Investment, Investors, Lease Rates, MLA, Private Equity, RBC, Regulation, SBA Communications, Small Cells, Towercos, Valuation

What is a European tower worth?Assessing the factors which contribute to value in the European tower market

Towerco scale

Most investors in towers cover the telecoms space and are used to publically listed companies on the scale of Orange of Deutsche Telecom, albeit companies which are often struggling with debt and downgrades. Whilst European towercos like Cellnex have achieved impressive scale in a short space of time, in comparison, public towercos are much smaller and the markets view them very positively, hoping they will grow further.

Participants stated that the current European publicly traded experience is very similar to the US market 10-15 years ago, in terms of how investors view the tower sector. There is a belief that more towers is better, and the market seems to be trading off raw tower numbers rather than return. The question the panel wanted to see answered was how soon the European market would evolve to become more like the US, where towercos have reached critical mass and are judged more on their returns. The participants agreed that this kind of analysis, on an asset basis, is much more accurate than tower multiples, taking into account underlying cash flow, inflation linkage, the marketability of the portfolio and longer term market potential.

Operational factors to be considered The importance of contracts should not be overlooked either, with some of the panel stating that towercos on the public markets in Europe are currently very undervalued as they don’t take into account the ‘gold plated’ contracts in place for 20

Read this article to learn:< How different investor categories view the European tower market < Comparisons and differences between European tower values and global valuations < The importance of contracts and client relationships < The key financial factors which can increase or undermine tower value < Macro and market influences on tower value

At the recent TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 event, held in London in April, senior executives from the towerco and investor communities took part in a panel to discuss what European towers are worth. During the course of the discussion it became clear that there is no one answer and the position of the valuer is as relevant as that of the asset being valued. From tax to market perception, we heard from leading experts David Porte, Vice President of International at SBA Communications, David Bernal, Head of Business Development at Cellnex, Alexandre Lucas, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, Christopher Ehrke, a Partner at Arcus Infrastructure Partners and Jonathan Dann, Managing Director at RBC.


or 30 years with all-or-nothing renewal clauses, making them a quasi-debt in terms of value. A run-off analysis of the value of towercos identify values much higher than current share prices. The panel flagged up two main problems when marketing towercos to investors: one being perceived industry risk - the concept that macro sites will be defunct and decommissioned with the advent of small cells. The other is that tower assets are so different it’s impossible to benchmark, even revenue per site can be affected by second tenants, ground rent or the terms of a sale and leaseback deal.

Differing business models

There is also a decrease in the number of pureplay towercos in both Europe and the rest of the world, meaning not every tower dollar is equal. In some cases in Africa, a large minority of revenue earned is through power provision, which is a different offering entirely, so valuing a company just from cash flow is not possible. The panel spoke about how every revenue stream should be valued differently, taking into account rooftops, greenfield, DAS and in-building solutions as well as factors such as electromagnetic issues, the state of the real estate market and the client relationship. Understanding what each of these elements is worth is very complex.

In addition, valuations need to be made not just on today’s conditions but in understanding where the market is going and what the client will need.

TDF in France is a great example of this as they offer telecoms, broadcast, radio, FTTH and media services, which are all very different businesses. In terms of potential value of assets, the ability to connect it with fibre and capacity for hosting 5G is also important.

International and macro factors

Another important factor discussed by the panel is in-market scale. In the US three players control 95% of the tower market, whereas in Europe no single player has more than 25-30% of the towers in any given market.

One of the things the panel felt strongly about was a focus on EBITDA during valuations, with some participants going as far as to say that it’s a ‘terrible’ metric for use in valuing towercos. One of the major

differences the panel had seen between different countries is the taxation, with many companies ignoring the tax issue. The experts on the panel felt that the impact of taxation on towercos is very underplayed and is an ongoing concern, particularly in relations to IFRS 16 regulations which could mean paying twice the amount of tax as a real estate lease might be 12% and on services it might be closer to 25% (see ‘A fundamental change in how tower leases are represented on MNO balance sheets’ in TowerXchange issue 19 for more information in IFRS 16).

Lastly the groups addressed foreign exchange rates, which can inflate or depress the value of an asset enormously, particularly in emerging markets. Emerging assets must be capable of showing real euro and dollar growth in order to judge theirvalue


European tower deals since 2008

Year Country Seller Buyer Tower countCost per tower € Deal structureDeal value €


284,666

280,821

391,434

347,826

248,148

417,624

249,787

58,964

126,866

93,941

446,226

90,016

100,400

193,501

287,356

250,000

90,000

147,082

SLB

Company acquisition

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB

SLB


Asset Transfer


SLB with 10% equity

Company acquisition

SLB

SLB with 15% equity

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

SLB

854,000,000

697,000,000

393,000,000

80,000,000

67,000,000

109,000,000

587,000,000

47,820,000

17,000,000

693,000,000

94,600,000

385,000,000

185,000,000

393,000,000

75,000,000

115,000,000

45,000,000

3,286,420,000

3,000

2,482

1,004

230

270

261

2,350

811

11,000

113

7,700

134

7,377

212

4,277

2,166

2,031

261

460

500

500

101

41,758

2017

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2016

2015

2015

2015

2015

2015

2014

2012

2012

2012

2012

2012

2010

2008

Cellnex

American Tower

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

Telxius

UkrTower

Telxius

Cignal

Deutsche Telecom/ Omega Towers

EI Towers

Cellnex

Cellnex

Cellnex

FPS Towers

American Tower

Protelindo

Shere Group

Cellnex

Open Tower Company

Open Tower Company

Totals / average

Bouygues

Antin/FPS

Shere Group

Bouygues Telecom

Bouygues Telecom

Protelindo

Telefonica

Lifecell

Telefonica

Coillte

Telefonica

Tecnorad

Wind (VimpelCom)

TowerCo

Telefonica/Yoigo

Bouygues Telecom

KPN

KPN

KPN

Telefonica

KPN

KPN

France

France

UK & Netherlands

France

France

Netherlands

Germany

Ukraine

Spain

Ireland

Germany

Italy

Italy

Italy

Spain

France

Germany

Netherlands

Netherlands

Spain

Netherlands

Netherlands


Keywords: 4G, 5G, Arqiva, BT, Cellnex, CTIL, EE, Europe, Hutchison, Leasing & Permitting, MBNL, O2, Operator-Led JV, Small Cells, Telefonica, Towercos, UK, Urban vs Rural, Wireless Infrastructure Group

Changing dynamics in the UK tower marketHow the Digital Economy Bill, ESN rollout and new towerco dynamics will shape the market

The shape of the UK tower industry

The UK has a tower market structure unlike any other in the world. Independent towercos, headed by Arqiva and Wireless Infrastructure Group and Cellnex (who recently acquired Shere Group), own 38% of the 38,500 active towers in the UK. The balance are contained within two joint venture infracos: CTIL, which operates Vodafone and O2’s network (Telefónica), and MBNL, which performs a similar function for EE (now BT) and 3 (Hutchison). CTIL and MBNL are both the primary clients of the UK’s independent towercos, and site sharing businesses in their own right. Their business models differ in that the tower assets are actually on CTIL’s balance sheet, while MBNL is a management company with the assets retained by the MNOs. CTIL is a passive infrastructure sharing play, while MBNL’s model extends to active infrastructure and transmission sharing. TowerXchange were pleased to welcome all players to this year’s Meetup in London, alongside a number of the UK’s smaller players.

The Digital Economy Bill

Having been published in July 2016 and with it being intended to lead to the passing of a new Digital Economy Act, the Digital Economy Bill featured highly during discussions at this year’s UK roundtable. A new Electronic Communications Code is being proposed in the bill, introducing measures aimed at simplifying and reducing the cost of digital infrastructure rollout. One issue the amendments seek to address is escalating lease payments being demanded by landlords who own the ground or

Read this article to learn:< Key players in the UK tower market and how they interact< Towerco perspectives on the impact of the Digital Economy Bill< Concerns around EE’s rollout of the Emergency Service Network < What are the main rate limiting factors in new site build< How the UK’s JV infracos and towercos may evolve

Hosted by CTIL’s Malcolm Collins, the UK roundtable at the 2017 TowerXchange Meetup Europe brought the Digital Economy Bill, EE’s Emergency Services Network Rollout, MNO consolidation and the future of the country’s JV infracos and towercos to the forefront of discussions. TowerXchange examine the debate at this year’s UK market discussion group.


rooftop on which the tower sits. Under the current code, landlords have the right to renegotiate rent when the equipment on a site is upgraded or when further tenants are added. Towercos complain about being “held to ransom” by landlords with one company voicing they have even been charged to remove equipment.

The new bill looks to regulate the increase in ground rent and also to remove the consent right of landlords over equipment upgrades and network sharing. Whilst the bill is yet to make it into law, on the second day of the Meetup the Bill passed through the House of Lords, marking another important milestone. For more detail on the bill read Vinson & Elkins’ article “The Digital Economy Bill – supporting the UK through turbulent times” in TowerXchange Journal 18.

With escalating lease payments being a major challenge that they UK’s infracos have been facing, all at the UK roundtable said the amendments were a positive step. Participants did however feel that the potential impact of the Bill had been overstated. The changes will really only apply to new sites and government projections that the revisions could save almost £200mn a year most thought were significantly wide of the mark. The Digital Economy Bill is not the “silver bullet” that people had hoped but it does represent a step in the right direction.

Whilst the amendments to the Electronic Communications Code would give towercos new power in negotiations with landlords, participants cautioned against abuse of such power. The new bill has unsurprisingly been met with resistance

from landlords who fear they will be unfairly remunerated for the use of their sites. It was in the interest of the industry to act responsibly; becoming too aggressive in negotiations and threatening legal action would only damage the reputation of the industry and harm relations. Deals should still be reached consensually wherever possible and landlords should still receive meaningful rent. Whilst all lease negotiations have slowed as people await the outcome of the bill, should it pass towercos expect a reduction in rental payments of at least 20% over the next decade.

The rollout of the Emergency Services Network

Having been awarded the contract to rollout the new Emergency Services contract, discussions turned to the manner in which this was being done by EE. The majority of new sites that are being built are structures 12-15m in height which are only suitable for a single tenant. As part of the terms of the contract, EE are forced to share sites with their competitors but with the sites being unsuitable for additional tenants this prevents other operators from using the towers.

Figure one: Who owns/operates the UK’s 38,500 active cell sites?

CTIL12,000

500Shared Source: TowerXchange

Co-locations

500

MBNL12,000

Independent towercos

14,500


This led to debate at the table of whether this was very much a conscious strategy from EE, using the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. Some felt that this was very much the case and voiced their frustration of EE’s choice of location preventing them from getting planning permission on shareable sites they were constructing. Other participants questioned whether the decision to construct smaller towers was more about rolling out the network quickly, EE are subject to severe penalties should they miss deadlines.

Rate limiting factors in new site build

Participants at the table felt that there had been a vast improvement in the efficiency of the planning regime in the UK with one towerco saying that in Scotland in particular, applications had been sailing through. Planners are starting to be tuned in to wanting improved connectivity and telecoms infrastructure which is really helping with new rollout. Whilst some local authorities and MPs are particularly supportive, some towercos voiced that other MPs still put up resistance. The protest element from local communities is on the rise and NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) sentiment is strong. Whilst one side of a rural community may be supportive of a tower which is going to bring improved coverage, those on the other side of the village where the tower is going to be built are less so.

Whilst progress has been made in improving the time to obtain planning permission, where the real delays come in is in securing transmission to site. It is essential to arrange transmission long ahead of

time in order to not delay connection of sites once they have been built.

The future of the UK’s towercos and JV infracos

As with all discussions at this year’s Meetup, 5G rollout and implications for the towerco business model was once again raised. If the UK wants to be a leading digital economy akin to the likes of Japan and Korea significant investment is required. With MNOs still not having got a return on their 4G infrastructure however severe challenges as to how this will be realised are discussed.

One participant voiced their opinion that the blocked takeover of O2 by Hutchison was a missed opportunity in the UK market. Whilst OFCOM were of the opinion that a four player market is inherently a more competitive market than a three player one, it was observed that the leading digital economies typically just have three MNOs.

Whilst the merits of a four versus three player market can be discussed, one participant explained how the market would be radically different and almost unrecognisable in ten years from now. Whilst there is always a need for a towerco, they felt that there would be very different tenants on sites ten years from now.

Returning to 5G deployment however, all were in agreement that an industrialised process would be required in order to address the densification required cost effectively. Towercos need to learn lessons from Wi-Fi companies who are more

experienced in this type of deployment and change their mindset and business models accordingly.

With two JV infracos in the market in the form of MBNL and CTIL, participants questioned what the future had in store for them and whether we would see the towers transition into independent hands. JVs in the UK are already using towercos to build out new sites, with one JV infraco referencing that half of their rural new build programme has been given to towercos. In reality, if they are a true towerco, they should be doing the new build themselves and getting additional tenants on their new sites but ultimately they have prioritised speed and as such are giving away value to other players. There is little overlap between the sites of the JV infracos and their independent contemporaries, with JV infracos assessing options on existing sites prior to rolling out new ones. One JV infraco referenced they were reassessing the potential of 500 sites belong to a towerco in the market.

In terms of selling off their assets, it was observed that part of the reason for the existence of the JV infracos was that their shareholders didn’t necessarily trust the industry, with the MNOs concerned about escalations in lease rates they would ultimately face. Should the private market develop a proposition offering interesting value added services, there could be the motivation to flip their towers but in the meantime it is important for JV infracos to focus on staying current and competitive with the independent towercos in the market - a difficult balance given the motivations of their shareholders


Keywords: 5G, ARPU, Carve Out, Country Risk, Editorials, First Tower Company, Infill, Infrastructure Funds, Investors, MegaFon, MTS, National Tower Company, New Market Entrant, Private Equity, Regulation, Russia, Russia & CIS, Russian Towers, Sale & Leaseback, Small cells, Tele2, Towercos, Transfer Assets, UFG, VEON, Vertical Service-telecom

Meetup Europe 2017roundtable summary: RussiaHow a proliferation of towercos in Russia is helping to drive change in the towerco business model

The discussion began with all in agreement that in last couple of years Russia has seen the independent tower industry coming of age. One participant said that four or five years ago selling the towerco proposition to MNOs was bordering on humiliation, they felt they had to had to beg for the business. Comparing that to the last three years, Russian MNOs are now much more open to using third party towers, due to increased density needs from 4G rollout, also in part due to the period of financial difficulties the MNOs ran into when the Russian economy was affected, they suddenly needed to pay attention to bottom line and market drivers. In terms of the independent towerco space companies like Russian Towers and Vertical have built capabilities to be able to offer very efficient solutions to the MNOs which is now becoming a standard. Another key driver mentioned was that for the Tele2 rollout in Moscow around 90% of the towers and poles constructed in the oblast were completed by towercos, Tele2 did very little work on this in house. As a result the participants talked about a tremendous shift in mentality, and a massive development in managed services in general. The group discussed how managed services is becoming a huge thing in the Russian market. Initially MNOs were a bit cautious but there has recently been a significant announcement by VEON who are a leader in such things, outsourcing work on maintenance on their mobile and fixed line network to Nokia and Huawei and transferring about 3,000 employees to these equipment vendors.

Read this article to learn:< Background on the Russian economy and telecoms market < Current rollouts and infrastructure trends < Availability of investment and raising capital in Russia < Russian timelines for 5G rollout and future networks


MNOs in Russia One participant summarised the Russian MNO market, explaining that MTS and Megafon are the largest operators, followed by VEON, and then Tele2 is the new challenger. Of these, the first three are privately owned, and Tele2 belongs jointly to the state bank and Rostelecom. The idea of a sale and leaseback in Russia has been on and off for the best part of five years, with VEON coming close to selling their ~13,000 towers at the end of 2016 but deciding in May 2017 not to go ahead with the divestiture. It remains to be seen how this will affect the rest of the market. Veon and MegaFon have completed their carve outs, whereas MTS didn’t want to get rid of tower assets but has announced the possibility to lease 33% of their towers (5,500 towers) for sharing.

The participants discussed how 4G rollout in the last 18 months may have brought challenges to rural areas, but the real change has been in city infrastructure, as urban rollouts have given professionals towercos a chance to step in and make efficiency savings. Russian towercos have managed to put the necessary skills and processes in place to support this rollout and the further 4G goes, the more scale the independent towercos can achieve.

City infrastructure City infrastructure is the key area of focus for the next few years, and Russian towercos have to be creatively innovative providing appropriate solutions. Legal support, access to electricity and visual appearance will all become matters of priority. In the next three to five years density will increase dramatically and will require new base stations, new poles and new towers. In addition

the group agreed that they need to be prepared for the next change which is active network sharing – the number of boxes on one pole will be reduced and so it could be perceived as a threat to both towercos and technology vendors. In order to lead the field and use this as a strength Russian towercos will need to find a new approach both legally and contractually.

Investment and economic conditions When addressing the macro issues affecting the Russian market, and the appetite for investment, the participants agreed that domestic capital is now beginning to invest in the tower industry. They anticipated that 2017 will be the first year that sees the Russian economy grow – not just in manufacturing but also in services. There was some discussion of the Russian debt market and the group discussed that Russia benefits from a functioning financial market and a strong central bank.

In early 2015 the refinancing rate in Russia hit 17%, with banks lending at 20-25% as a result, strangulating new business growth in the country. Since this point the Bank Rossii has taken a stronger tack in order to protect macroeconomic stability, targeting a 4% inflation rate in 2017 to reduce the cost of borrowing and bringing the refinancing rate down to 9.5%. Of course by European standards this is still astronomical, but when compared to IRRs in the low teens being achieved in construction in Russia today, this rate creates a margin which at least makes growth possible. Domestic investors can see that the Russian towerco space can provide higher yields than Western European equivalents,

and their investment will drive further dealmaking in the near future.

Future networks in Russia The discussion moved on to 5G rollout and the crossroads faced by Russian towercos to stay in property or go into a more services-based offering. 5G can deliver many upsides to infrastructure owners, and towercos are better positioned to maximise, capture and integrate these upsides as MNOs are less interested in exploring technical integration and the synergies which could improve efficiency. However, no active projects have taken place yet in Russia, there is no benchmark for how much benefit these synergies will bring.

Eventually it was agreed that for the next few years staying conservative and staying in property is the best course of action, while maybe adding in a power offering but not going into active equipment yet, as it’s a huge play to get into antennas and other active equipment.

The group discussed the fact that the Russian market currently faces a perfect storm of competitive tension, low ARPU, high government pressure and capex intensive problems for the 4G rollout. Although data usage has increased dramatically, none of the operators has managed to fully benefit as they have been competing on price, however the price war seems to be relenting, which should start to drive up ARPUs.

The table agreed three stages for growth in Russia: firstly, the growth of ARPUs; secondly, the arrival of capital and finally more M&A activity


Keywords: Batteries, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Europe, Off-Grid, On-Grid, Opex Reduction, RMS, Site Level Profitability, Site Management System, Site Visits, Unreliable Grid, Uptime

Smart thinking: how metering can reduce opex Notes from the Smart Metering discussion at the TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017

Who is responsible for power?

The participants discussed who takes responsibility for power in European telecoms infrastructure and how, when power is passed through, there’s no incentive to make it less expensive; once a towerco offers power as a service they have a strong driver to bring the costs down. Whatever the outcome if a towerco wants to manage their sites better, a smart meter will help.

There are also political drivers which vary country to country, such as incentives to develop ‘green’ branding in Germany, and larger companies are also obliged to report and be more accountable on energy and carbon consumption.

In addition, smart meters can drive efficiency savings across a tower owner’s equipment and track how well their site is performing.

Multiple levels of cost savings Participants talked about how the focus to date in Europe has been mainly on the active equipment but increasingly systems which can monitor site power consumption and report back are enabling savings to be made, however only a very small percentage of that data is currently being used effectively. There aren’t just cost savings to be made from power but also in reducing the number of visits to a site and managing the operational costs.

In more developed markets you can get deep

Read this article to learn:< What a smart meter is and applications for telecoms towers < Drivers for smart metering usage and how they vary from country to country < How smart meters can be used to help towercos work with their customers < KPIs and metrics to measure smart meter success

The insights accrued from smart metering can help an MNO or towerco understand how to reduce energy opex. The smart metering roundtable at the TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 brought together European tower owners with a broad spectrum of power experience to discuss the possibilities which these smart solutions can offer.

The roundtable discussed the definition of a smart meter and what it can achieve, with smart meters replacing meters which are just for billing. There was a discussion around who provides the meter - do you get access from the electricity provider or do you source your own meters? One towerco at the table stated that they have acquired their own so they can track what each tenant uses and bill more appropriately. Even if the utility company provides a meter, if a tower owner has four operators on a tower, it’s worth their time and investment to add in a submeter to enable more visibility over power usage.


data directly from an energy provider or meter operator, but the group agreed that it was possible to add a proprietary smart meter next to the fiscal meter in order to track this information; for example some power companies don’t like to share detailed information, so adding another meter downstream can provide detail that otherwise may be difficult to obtain.

Using the data effectively

Once a meter is installed it can be used to assess the efficiency of sites; the data can give very accurate information on how the site is performing and can be teamed with IoT technology to manage it further. Once a tower owner starts to get that stream of data it’s possible to move from reactionary maintenance to predicting and mitigating problems before they occur. In developed nations it’s also possible to go beyond measuring to controlling and using the battery banks to balance power and reduce costs. This is also important information to have in order to check bills and ensure that the towers are on the right tariff. The participants discussed the obstacles which would stop smart metering from working as effectively as they would like. Issues which may arise included sabotage from workers or accidental damage, as well as the possibility of not being able to provide internet ports on sites. However the biggest challenge is buy in; the cost of a meter, of RMS, SIM cards and software all adds

up and unless there are some clear incentives, this technology won’t take off very fast. Organisations can find it hard to accept the business case for such a large spend, particularly as metering services don’t bring savings by themselves; it’s what you do with the data which makes the difference.

KPIs and making the business case The participants agreed that building the metering business case is very hard, as smart metering will identify 12-15% worth of savings but it’s only realistic to realise 5% of the low hanging fruit because the rest will require significant capital investment or a step change in process to bring about.

When setting KPIs across smart metered sites, the group discussed the fact that different sites need their own KPIs and you can’t compare apples and oranges in different countries. There has to be a willingness to read the data in different ways and interpret it against individual needs. It was suggested that KPIs can be set per site, and as long as improvement is shown on that site, it’s a better indicator of performance than comparing sites in countries with differing environments and needs.

One participant said that data management is about viewing by exception. When reading the data it’s important to look at the probability of a failure occurring and work out what the penalty is for that failure occurring, monitoring the right cost with the right reliability

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Keywords: 5G, Active Infrasharing, Business Model, DAS, Densification, Fibre, First Mover Advantage, Infill, Infrastructure Sharing, Installation, Market Overview, Multi-Operator, Network Rollout, Outdoor Equipment, Procurement, QoS, RF Design, Small Cells

Outdoor distributed networksSmall cells, DAS, neutral hosts, street furniture and the role of the towerco

The indoor small cells market is well established and the topic of separate TowerXchange editorials, but this panel discussion centered around the more fragmented outdoor distributed network opportunity. Of particular note was the focus around whether MNOs have made any concessions in network and infrastructure sharing to allow for new market entrants and neutral hosts. The issue of infrastructure sharing and the concept of a neutral host model are closely linked. Discussion concentrated on the fact that over the last few years the European market has indeed made strides towards infrastructure sharing, but that the natural fragmentation of the geography, either country to country, or in some cases city to city, hinders widespread progress. Consequently, the different rates of adoption of the outsourcing of infrastructure by MNOs, and the opportunity for a towerco-led neutral host model for the heterogeneous network layer varies greatly across the European region.

Notwithstanding the issues around spectrum sharing (which our panel chose not to debate), it was agreed that any organisation looking to deploy outdoor distributed networks needs to have a solid understanding of the segmentation between the jurisdictions, and the differences country to country / city to city. Some countries are much more open to changes in the operating model, and some are less so, but ultimately for the MNO, the customer experience has to be immaculate. If a neutral host model is being used, then this responsibility will fall to the host, and the risk to any MNO (and therefore

Read this article to learn:< The latest stance from MNOs on infrastructure sharing< MNO requirements from partners looking to deploy small cells< Which regions are open to the neutral host model< How to drive down total cost of ownership to facilitate widespread small cell roll-out

< The challenges and realities of installing outdoor small cell networks

This article is the TowerXchange write up from the 2017 Europe Meetup panel session on outdoor distributed networks. Contributing panellists were Marc Merlini, Business Development Director, JCDecaux Link; Nikos Antoniou, Principal Category Manager, Property, Vodafone procurement Company; Alberto Sioli, Manager, Business Unit Solutions, Kathrein; and Mark Murphy, Analyst, Macquarie.


the reluctance to outsource) is that their partner falls short in delivering this.

One important note to take away from this session was the uncertainty of what the MNOs actually require from the service partners. One of our infraco panelists told us that his company had engaged a strategic consultancy who had advocated offering the full as-a-service model, however, in consultation with the MNOs it was discovered that this was the opposite of what they wanted, and that in fact they were looking for models which ensured they had complete control of their network at all times.

In response to this, all active equipment was removed from the service offering, with the exception of a custom designed aerial which had been pre-approved for use by the city authorities. This simplified approach facilitated the roll out of a trial small cell project and looks to be a good example of best practice where the MNO wishes to retain control. It also raised the subject of the role towercos / infracos should provide in offering distributed network solutions – should they stick to what they know and just provide passive equipment, or can they enter the realms of active equipment provision and management too? The jury is still out on this.

The discussion then moved on to the need for standardisation in order to facilitate roll out, both from a procurement efficiency standpoint, but also as a way to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO)

of small cell projects. One of the main challenges for equipment providers is that MNOs are not yet clear about what they want to install; what kind of technology they want to use, and what kind of business model they want to employ. In addition, the fragmentation of the European market makes it even more difficult to come up with a truly replicable solution. However, our panel agreed that standardisation is key to ensuring widespread infrastructure deployment, especially from the MNO perspective, and that procurement teams need to have supply chain consistency and economies of scale in order to operate efficiently. Ultimately, until solution providers can offer the necessary scalability, limited progress will be made, but in the meantime, the paradigm will change: MNOs will not be able to pick solutions from a menu of different options, they will have to form partnerships. The network as-a-service concept is something that will happen, and the adoption rate will differ according to time and region, but a lack of standardisation will

limit the adoption of the neutral host model.

Taking their cue from the towerco interest in providing distributed networks and managed services, equipment manufacturers are also moving into the neutral host space and they are becoming increasingly aware of the need to provide a range of solutions, including small cells, active DAS and passive DAS, in order to win business. These solution providers have a unique opportunity to be able to act on the intelligence garnered from working with the MNOs to manufacture and produce solutions that are directly influenced by the operator requirements, however, as mentioned previously, standardisation will be key.

Overriding all of the separate discussions during this session was the issue of TCO, and our panelists debated how this can be brought down to make distributed networks more cost effective and therefore more likely to be deployed. TCO varies

The network as-a-service concept is something that will happen, and the adoption rate will differ according to time and region, but a lack of standardisation will limit the adoption of the neutral host model


around the world, but in Europe remain stubbornly high due to MNOs using small cells to densify existing macro networks (rather than using small cells instead of macro sites as has been noted in Latin America), but also because European MNOs want to install several small cells per site. Until multi-operator small cell solutions become more sophisticated, and the inherent issue of spectrum sharing can be overcome, this multi small cell per site predicament will prevail and keep costs higher than they need to be. Fundamentally, the more infrastructure that can be shared, the further TCO will come down. However, our panel spoke at length about how operators are not ready for this, and again, how the retention of control of all of the active parts of the network is crucial for MNOs. This brought us back round to the question of active / passive equipment provision and whether towercos / infracos want to take a role in the active equipment.

We asked our infraco participants to share their experience on integrating active equipment into passive infrastructure, and the conclusions were surprising. Their priority, and the nature of the agreements with the city authorities, centre around the aesthetics of small cells integration. When working with MNOs to install the active equipment, the infrastructure owners must operate within certain rigid constraints e.g. the height of the antenna. Given these restrictions, when small cells were fitted to urban street furniture, despite the antennas being lower than the MNO specified, the result was positive. In urban applications, at a

height of three metres (which is roughly that of a small cell affixed to a bus shelter or lamp post, and much lower than the radio frequency teams within a network planning department would prefer) there is good penetration of cellular signal on the ground level of the surrounding buildings, which is where the restaurants and shops are, so as a localised network coverage solution it works well. When working with MNOs and coordinating with city authorities, infrastructure partners must help operators see that over-engineering is not helpful, and that a ‘good enough’ attitude is necessary. Another advantage with a lower level antenna is that maintenance is conducted more easily, further bringing down costs. One potential problem for

large urban small cell roll-out, which might rely on street furniture as the fixed infrastructure, was around power and fibre. There is often fibre to digital advertising panels in bus stops, but the power source is usually based around lampposts, which are only turned on at night, so a solution would need to be found to power small cells fixed to lampposts during the daytime. This service obviously lends itself to being provided by a towerco.

In addition to urban small cells, the panel also touched on rural area network coverage and the fact that with 5G there will be an expectation of increased rural cellular coverage, especially along the main transport and infrastructure routes within a country. Our panel debated whether small cells are the right solution to meet these rural coverage needs and concluded that there will always be a place for small cells, but that MNOs will be seeking the best solution, not just any solution, so it remains to be seen whether small cell usage will migrate out of the dense urban centres.

In conclusion, outdoor small cell networks will happen. They will be concentrated in dense urban areas and deployed by a variety of partners. Work is underway to bring down the TCO and make the procurement and deployment process more efficient. There is a role for the towerco, but they will have to act quickly if they are going to beat the equipment manufacturers to it, and ultimately the towercos need to decide if they are willing to start managing active equipment

When working with MNOs and coordinating with city authorities, infrastructure partners must help operators see that over-engineering is not helpful, and that a ‘good enough’ attitude is necessary


Keywords: 5G, Active Infrasharing, Business Model, Capacity Enhancements, Ericsson, Co-locations, Construction, DAS,Densification, Fibre, First Mover Advantage, Infill, Infrastructure Sharing, Installation, ip.access, Macquarie Capital, Market Overview, MulteFire Alliance, Multi-Operator, NEC, Network Rollout, Operational Excellence, Outdoor Equipment, Procurement, QoS, RF Design, Shelters, Small Cells, Vodafone

Indoor distributed networksSmall cell as-a-service and neutral host technologies and business models

The indoor small cells market is well established, but deployments aren’t yet widespread. In Europe, projects have tended to be trials and until total cost of ownership (TCO) is reduced, the in-building solution proposition will remain unable to address its addressable market in its entirety. With 80% of data usage coming from indoors, the opportunity is clear, but who will pay? Acknowledging the importance of the total cost of ownership (TCO) in small cell deployment feasibility, but choosing to focus on a more fundamental point to illustrate the validity of small cells, one of our panellists opened with a commentary on the fact that as data demand continues to rise, the rate at which this rise is taking place is slowly falling due to network capacity issues. Recent studies show that the CAGR for data demand was 64% in 2016, but 60% for 2017, and in an environment where spectrum is finite, the only way to deliver more capacity is to densify the network, and small cells are the best solution. Additionally, macro loading is reduced through the use of small cells, and as a result of this offload MNOs are able to deliver better quality of service further driving the business case for small cell deployment. We were reminded that five years ago, one of the main drivers behind installing small cells was to replace the fixed line service in enterprise environments. However, as the world has moved from voice to data, and we now require a seamless service wherever we go, the importance of tying together the indoor and outdoor connectivity layers

Read this article to learn:< The requirements of a neutral host< How alternative business models could facilitate neutral host / as-a-service offerings< How small cells can form an intrinsic part of IoT< The relative virtues of DAS and small cells for indoor applications

By Zara Nathan, Head of Research, TowerXchange

This article is the TowerXchange write up from the 2017 Europe Meetup panel session on indoor distributed networks. Contributing panellists were Patrik Jakobson, Head of Network as-a-Service, Ericsson; Nikos Antoniou, Principal Category Manager, Property, Vodafone Procurement Company; Nick Johnson, CTO, ip.access; Art King, Marketing Working Group, MulteFire Alliance; Costa Tsourkas, Head of Business Development, NEC Europe; and Mark Murphy, Analyst, Macquarie Capital.


is becoming increasingly apparent. For an operator, navigating the indoor market is complex, and requires a very different approach to traditional site acquisition. Operators have been looking at Asia and the U.S., where small cells are being built into buildings by the real estate developers, and many are being built with neutral host models. The question the MNOs are now asking themselves is: how can indoor connectivity be delivered at a higher standard, more expediently, and ultimately how can we commoditise small cells? Fundamentally, small cells are a matter of connectivity and backhaul, and whether the macro layer becomes a separate layer remains to be seen. Ideally we want the whole industry to continue to shift towards viewing connectivity as a basic right. Our discussion then moved on to highlight the importance of backhaul in small cell roll-out, and how this is often the bump in the road for a successful neutral host proposition. Any company looking to provide neutral host services need to be comfortable with meeting backhaul requirements, but this is often not the case. Backhaul is often assumed to be provided by fibre, but we were reminded that it can also be microwave, which may significantly reduce the TCO in certain scenarios and make the neutral host proposition slightly less complex. If fibre backhaul is required it can be provided by cable companies, towercos, or MNOs, but rarely is it laid by the neutral host company. There is an expectation that enterprises and venue owners will share the cost of this, but when that building owner has contracted a neutral host, they

feel that meeting backhaul requirements should fall to that neutral host and this is where negotiations often reach a stalemate. For the operator community, their number one cost is labour and their number two cost is backhaul. There is an overriding need to define the TCO and work out how any small cells as-a-service provision shares the cost with the operators. Our panel concluded this discussion with the assertion that an alternative

financing model needs to be proposed in order to facilitate an end-to-end neutral host market, and this is where our panel identified the opportunity for the success of the neutral host model. Another role currently under-emphasised by neutral hosts is the need to act as an intermediary between the operator and the enterprise. Back in the days of the first small cells, the operator

Increasingly connectivity is being viewed as a utility, and as a basic need by consumers

Self-actualisation:achieving one’sfull potential,

including creativeactivities

Self-fulfillment needs

Psychological needs

Basic needs

Esteem needs:prestige and feelingof accomplishment

Belongingness and love needs:intimate relationships, friends

Physiological needs:food, water, warmth, rest

Safety needs:security, safety

Connectivity:Cellular signal, Wi-Fi



proposition was about guaranteeing indoor coverage to prevent churn, and it was very much a per-operator small cell play. But as enterprises have become more demanding of an impartial, operator agnostic service, especially in the context of bring your own device (BYOD), the bargaining power that enterprises have has risen, and the dominance of the operator has fallen proportionately. While enterprise clients are still important to the operators, the enterprises have managed to claw back some autonomy and turn the tables. However these enterprises still have little idea how to optimise indoor connectivity in business premises, which is where the opportunity for the successful intermediary or neutral hosts lies. Indoor small cells as-a-service can be delivered with or without a neutral host. One equipment manufacturer representative shared that he is increasingly seeing a number of operators asking OEMs to run indoor small cells as-a-service for them. They are doing this because once indoor small cells are deployed with the purpose of delivering a particular service, for a particular enterprise, that enterprise expects to pay for it on a per-usage basis, be it monthly or quarterly, but seldom up front. So for example, an as-a-service provider or neutral host delivers an infrastructure, and that infrastructure delivers communication solutions for a hospital / hotel, it then becomes a quasi-utility. We were referred to an example of an operator pilot with a hospital whereby the operator deployed small cells in order to guarantee connectivity for healthcare professionals. The healthcare facility sees small cells as the most

reliable way for the doctors and nurses to be contacted in case of an emergency and is prepared to pay for it, not up front, but as-a-service.

This, we were assured, is where the role of the operator, or the vendor, with or without third party financing, could come in - to deploy the upfront capital. Buying a service wrap-around is simply more palatable to the enterprise customer. Established systems integrators could approach equipment manufacturers and ask them to provide the infrastructure, and they would then be paid for the service. They could also do this on a neutral host basis if the system needed to be multi-operator. In this case small cells would deliver a very substantial incremental improvement to neutral host business models as we understand them today, which rely predominantly on DAS systems – ultimately small cell systems providers believe their solutions can often do what DAS does but much better, much faster, and with a lower TCO.

Such models aren’t without their complications however, because previous neutral host business models were built to be delivered by one particular technology: DAS. A DAS is very much like a tower; essentially it is a passive asset which does nothing until you plug something into it. Being a neutral host of a DAS involved managing a passive infrastructure consisting of cables and computers etc, with the base stations being provided and managed by the MNO. The paradigm shift with small cells is that in order to provide neutral host services or offer truly as-a-service product it is an active infrastructure that needs managing, and this comes with a whole different set of requirements. In the same way as DAS distributes radio throughout a building using an antenna, with small cells you can distribute cellular signal all around a building using Ethernet connections and IP. Therefore, all the neutral host / as-a-service player would need to do to leverage that would be to install some active devices (small cells) and configure them to the

“ “Enterprises still have little idea how to optimise indoor connectivity in business premises, which is where the opportunity for the successful intermediary or neutral hosts lies


relevant spectrum. The most valuable asset for a neutral host is the contract, either with the venue or with the operator, any service layered on top of that is a bonus. So who is the natural neutral host and what are the requirements placed upon them? 1) The neutral host needs to be confident that the as-a-service part of their business can provide the capital they are required to deploy. The neutral host needs to be financially robust enough to be able to deploy the equipment and have it paid for at a later date and over a long time period (typically three to five years), so the neutral host will require the financial strength to enable them to do it.

2) One of the main differences between DAS and small cells is the shorter life cycle of the latter, so

any successful neutral host will have to be able to update the small cell technology as and when it becomes appropriate. One suggestion would be that the initial exclusive agreement with one operator at the installation stage of a small cell system could evolve beyond the term of that agreement and after which time other operators are invited to join – this could be a way of financing and mitigating risk.

3) The neutral host must simplify the exercise for the enterprise, and to let them have a single point of accountability. Part of their service must be to coordinate with the supply chain as well as being responsible for the installation and management.

This brought us to the problematic topic of sharing spectrum, and we were assured by the operators in the room that they would never share their spectrum! The view from these operators was that

the only way neutral host networks can work is in common areas: airports, shopping malls, stadia etc. In these cases, their view was that the passive infrastructure can be shared, but this will never translate to the active environment. We then moved on to the topic of whether unlicensed spectrum lends itself to small cells / neutral host / as-a-service business models - 3.5Ghz CBRS in the US, and 2.6 Ghz which is currently unused in the UK spectrum could be shared far more easily than operator-led shared spectrum. Unfortunately and inevitably our panel discussion ran out of time, but if I can offer a summary conclusion it would be this: the undisputed facts are that data demand is only going to increase, and combined with 5G requirements, further pressure will continue to be put on capacity at the macro layer. Small cells are a viable, practical, but not yet economically proven capacity solution, so work needs to be done to bring costs down through partnerships and clear communication between the various stakeholders in the ecosystem. As the spectrum scenario continues to evolve perhaps it will put a different spin on the neutral host / as-a-service proposition, but for now the industry focus must be on developing legacy business models to be fit for purpose in our current context, and ensuring they are able to keep pace with the evolution of technology. Ultimately until the TCO comes down, or the European MNO market enjoys the circa 45% EBITDA margins of the U.S., there will be an inability to roll out large scale, widespread small cell projects. Time to market is also key in this discussion, but the time to market will be when the market is ready, and in Europe, we aren’t there yet

“ “The neutral host needs to be financially robust enough to be able to deploy the equipment and have it paid for at a later date and over a long time period


TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2017 - Tower power in Europe Working Group Summary

With so many disparate power needs in European towers, this group was used to identify what the core requirements for tower power in Europe are, how costs can be managed and to look forward to potential solutions which may even allow tower owners to use their power storage solutions to their advantage.

Working group members

< Mirko Masi, Global Operations, Cellnex

< Eric Estrade, Principal Group Supply Chain Manager, Energy,

Vodafone Procurement Company

< Nigel Moss, COO, Wireless Infrastructure Group

< Morag Pollock, General Manager, Towercom

< Kentaro Ono, Senior Manager, NTT Facilities

< Marek Switajewski, CEO, Electronic Control Systems

< Edmin Lutalala, Network Facilities Specialist, Airtel Tanzania

Plus senior representatives from:

< Bejing Dynamic Power

< Bladon Jets

< Himoinsa

< Medipower

< North Star

< Vertiv



Tower Power - Working Group Summary

Efficiency and cost management

< Simplicity, modularity, reliability are the main issues for power in

Europe

< Maintain and monitor – optimise the life of a battery

< Quality and lifecycle of batteries is important

< Where offered, energy (backup or generation) is the second biggest

opex cost for a site even in Europe

Reducing theft and crime

< Although not on the scale of emerging markets, battery theft is still a

problem in Europe

< Not worth tracking batteries; you need to prevent the theft

< Lithium ion batteries seem a good solution; if costs can be brought

down

< Are batteries critical on a site?

Thinking outside the box

< Make the next generation of batteries work for you

< Split costs of substations with other industries in the local

community

< Use smart metering to use dispersed energy sources to back up the

grid

Customer service and customer needs

< Towercos want to provide the best service at the lowest cost

< Resilience is a customer service issue

< Need to upgrade batteries and power provision as colocations

increase

< Can’t afford to be wrong when you’re providing critical national

infrastructure

Metrics

< Outage is an important KPI

< Smart metering can improve billing accuracy

< Use metering to manage consumption

< Energy is an important part of opex


Executive summary

All of the participants discussed their power needs, which varied dramatically from a simple pass-through model to hundreds of thousands of sites requiring backup and power generation. Power needs by location Indeed, for some of the participants, their power requirements vary across different countries, with Cellnex only providing power as a service in two of the five countries in which they operate (Spain

and Italy) and others having different needs based on tower location. The participants with larger portfolios all found that a proportion of their towers were off-grid, however, and did need some solutions in this area, although the bulk of their power needs are to back up a stable grid connection. The participants agreed that they are seeing customers requesting more and more resilience, particularly in light of emergency frequencies being moved onto mobile networks.

Power as a cost When discussing the cost of power in Europe, the group stated that around 70% of opex is eaten up by ground lease costs, with energy costs coming second and maintenance costs after that. Due to this, energy efficiency and the efficient maintenance of energy equipment is very important. In terms of monitoring power consumption, the group discussed how smart meters have become cheaper to install, although one of our power experts pointed out that the ability to obtain the data is half the battle, and that getting access to the data and using it effectively is critical. One tower owner stated that smart metering had enabled them to make customer billing significantly more accurate. Reducing theft The conversation moved on to battery theft, which is still a problem in Europe, even if not on the same scale as in some developing markets. There was a discussion around whether tracking batteries was possible, but the group agreed that GPS is too costly and power hungry to warrant tracking individual batteries. All participants agreed that the ideal solution is to prevent the theft in the first place; either by hiding or disguising the batteries. The merits of lithium ion batteries were also discussed, with participants agreeing that lower scrap value and fewer alternative uses making them much less of a target for thieves. However,


in a region such as Europe, where theft is not as high, the fact lithium ion batteries cost 2.5-3x what lead acid batteries do makes the business case less straightforward. The group were keen to know if the prices of lithium ion batteries would come down in the near future. Maintenance and cost The participants found maintaining batteries is expensive, and discussed the possibility of eliminating them altogether, but concluded that,

when running critical national infrastructure they ‘don’t have the right to be wrong’ in terms of outage. The session ended with a discussion around utilising power infrastructure to minimise costs. One suggestion was that the cost of building and running substations could be split with other industries in the local community. The possibility of using disseminated energy sources such as batteries across a portfolio of towers to back up the grid was also discussed and flagged as a potential option for infrastructure owners

Meetup Africa& ME 2017

Meetup Asia 2017

Meetup Americas 2018


Meetup Europe 2018

3-4 October, Johannesburg

12-13 December, Singapore

20-21 June, Boca Raton

17-18 April, London


Supporting insights from leading power solutions providers in Europe

Beijing Dynamic Power Co., Ltd.

Beijing Dynamic Power Co., Ltd. (DPC) is a leading manufacturer of Telecom Power Supply in Beijing China.

Established in 1995 who are the China first IPO (Initial Public Offerings) company in power supply industry in Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2004 Over 2,400,000 Rectifier modules operating on Carrier Networks globally and 30% market share in China owned by Carriers/China Tower(Ranking No.1 in China Tower). More than 20 years of experience in diversity power solutions for tower company. Over 3000 employees with the main production base of 330, 000m2, with production capacity of 80,000 pcs rectifiers and 15,000 sets systems per month. DPC’s stable high efficient and cost effective Power Supply create maximum value for carriers and tower company.

www.dpc.com.cn

Bladon Jets

Bladon Jet’s breakthrough technologies enable the production of micro gas turbine engines which are more efficient, less polluting and lower cost than traditional reciprocating power units. Introducing the world’s first 12kW microturbine genset designed specifically for the telecom tower power market delivering reduced fuel and

maintenance costs, durability, and ultra-quiet operation for use in urban environments. Bladon’s revolutionary microturbine, heat exchanger and air bearing technologies harness the power of a miniature jet engine to provide a compact and ultra-reliable alternative to the traditional diesel generator. Use Bladon’s Micro Turbine Genset as a primary power source, hybrid mode with batteries or renewable energy sources, or as backup power to the grid.

www.bladonjets.com

HIMOINSA

HIMOINSA is a global corporation that designs, manufactures and distributes power generation equipment worldwide. It has extensive experience in the telecommunications market, having supplied equipment with power outputs ranging from 8 to 45KVA in the international market to well-known companies in the sector.

Our telecom range gensets can work remotely, providing efficient and reliable power and incorporate functionalities such as: GPS system, making it possible to locate the machine at any time, fuel level alarm, remote management and remote control for gathering and recording data in real time. HIMOINSA has develops a variable speed hybrid generator sets that reduces fuel consumption by 40% and extend maintenance periods up to 1000 hours.

www.himoinsa.com

MediPower

Since 2003, MediPower keeps the leading position as ESCO for the Italian telecom sector, providing energy to off-grid BTS for all the local MNOs (Vodafone, Wind, TIM, H3G).

Operating in FULL OPEX model within an extremely challenging logistic and environmental scenario, the company holds a market share greater than 80%.

MediPower experience is replicable globally, relying on the “best-in-class” technology provided by Ausonia: AC & DC gensets, hybrid solutions, remote management and renewable sources integration.

For these reasons, MediPower represents the ideal energy partner to globally approach network implementation projects and/or operational optimization processes, in a cost effective way.

www.medipower.com/en/index.php

NorthStar Battery

NorthStar delivers reliable and sustainable power to the world, by designing and manufacturing high performance batteries and energy-saving battery cabinets. NorthStar products are built to provide longer battery life and reduced environmental impact.

The company has state-of-the-art facilities in the USA and Sweden, and their products are

used in more than 150 countries worldwide. NorthStar can cut your operating costs with their long life products, high operating temperatures and efficient battery cooling.The new NorthStar ACE™ is the future of energy storage management, an Internet of Things concept that allows you to monitor your batteries remotely using Bluetooth and the cloud.

www.northstarbattery.com

Vertiv

Vertiv designs, builds and services critical infrastructure that enables vital applications for communication networks as well as data centres and commercial and industrial facilities. Formerly Emerson Network Power, Vertiv supports today’s growing mobile and cloud computing markets with a portfolio of power, thermal and infrastructure management solutions including the ASCO®, Chloride®, Liebert®, NetSure™ and Trellis™ brands. Telecom and IT infrastructure solutions from Vertiv deliver purposefully designed and integrated hardware, software, and services that enable your network infrastructure to be as dynamic as your business. Ranging from site planning to test and turn-up, our experience and dedicated approach to providing turnkey solutions will compliment your business investment. For more information, visit our website.

www.vertivco.com


China’s leading telecom power supply company looks globally

TowerXchange: Please can you introduce Beijing Dynamic Power to those unfamiliar with the company. Where does the company fit in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: Beijing Dynamic Power Co., Ltd. (DPC for short) is a leading manufacturer of telecom power supply equipment in Beijing China. The company was established in 1995, the first public company in the power supply industry in China, and underwent an IPO in 2004 (Shanghai Stock Exchange Code: 600405), the open market value is over US$800mn. The group has five wholly-owned companies with a total of over 3000 employees including 400 R&D engineers in three R&D centres. Our main production base is 330,000m2, with production capacity of 80,000 pcs rectifiers and 15,000 sets systems per month. DPC has nearly 30% market share in China and are the number one supplier to China Tower Company (CTC). DPC have been committed to supplying power solutions for the telecoms sector and a wide range of rectifiers for telecom integrated system suppliers in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem for the past 21 years. TowerXchange: How extensive is the company’s experience? How many systems are deployed in the field? What is the company’s geographic footprint and who are some of your key clients?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: DPC has been the leading mainstream power supplier in the Chinese telecommunications

Read this article to learn:< DPC’s scale and depth of experience in the supply of power equipment to the telecom industry< The company’s wide product offering applicable to the sector< How a focus on R&D is driving higher efficiency and cost-competitive solutions < Features of DPC’s products which are ideally suited to multi-tenant applications < DPC’s RMS platform, its compact design and ease of operation

Keywords: Beijing Dynamic Power, Capex, China Tower Company, DPC, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Infrastructure Sharing, Microgeneration, O&M, Off-Grid, On-Grid, Opex Reduction, Rectifiers, RMS, Unreliable Grid, Who’s WhoThomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.

Arguably the largest name in energy equipment provision to the telecom industry in China, with such accolades as being the number one supplier to China Tower Company, Beijing Dynamic Power (DPC) boasts a diverse product offering with strong R&D, high efficiency and customer service at the heart of its offerings. TowerXchange speak to the company to discover more about its high efficiency solutions and their suitability to the global telecom industry.

Beijing Dynamic Power Company’s extensive and high efficiency product offering


industry for years. DPC has created hundreds of different power products and supplied a huge number of solutions to worldwide customers, covering the entire range of power requirements; very large power systems, medium power indoor systems, compact rack-mounted systems, wall-mounted type, remote DC powering solutions, modular outdoor systems, mini outdoor power cells, hybrid power system et cetera.

Over 500,000 systems within 2,400,000 rectifier modules are operating on MNO and towerco networks globally. Our products are highly regarded by our esteemed telecom customers globally such as China Tower, China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, Telecom Italia, MTS, STC, Ethio Telecom, Tanzania Telecom, LG U+, Sri Lanka Telecom, Lao Telecom, Nepal Telecom and Yemen Telecom amongst others. TowerXchange: How is Beijing Dynamic Power able to help towercos and operators tackle escalating energy costs at cell sites across Africa? What kind of efficiency improvements can be obtained?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: Based on the idea of environmental protection and energy savings, DPC developed a series of high efficiency rectifiers with typical technology such as Intelligent Directional Dormancy, by which the power system will automatically choose the normal-working high efficiency modules in the case of mix-use module

conditions, which will ensure the system is always working at the highest efficiency point, aiming to reduce energy loss.

Customers use our high efficiency products to cut capex and reduce energy consumption. The extremely high deployment level of our products globally over a number of years is testament to the high reliability of our products and demonstrates their performance in the field.

Our high efficiency rectifier modules rating range from 48VDC 1kW, 2kW, 3kW to 6kW with a high efficiency performance approaching 97%. Meanwhile along with DPC’s continuous investment in and development of cutting edge, energy efficiency technology with fully independent IP rights, we will soon release higher efficiency products (approaching 98% efficiency) to help our customers reduce the capex and opex of their networks. TowerXchange: How scalable is your solution for the addition of further tenants at sites?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: DPC’s power solution is specialised in catering for multi-tenant use. Every tenant’s power consumption is metered by an individual energy meter which is individually monitored and managed by the system controller without tenants interfering with each other. DPC’s multi-tenant management and LVD individual solution can record the different power consumption and

key data of each tenant, helping the towercos effectively manage tower sharing.

TowerXchange: With many sites in remote locations, how does DPC’s solution allow for effective monitoring and what kind of maintenance is required?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: DPC’s remote integrated intelligent monitoring system (RMS) can effectively monitor and manage power systems located in remote sites globally through an online user-friendly management interface, typically based on Ethernet communication by wireless channel. An all-in-one compact design with multi-ports and a highly-integrated 19” rack-mounted type core monitoring unit enables low cost maintenance with easy operation. TowerXchange: Finally, please can you sum up how you differentiate Beijing Dynamic Power from your competitors?

Thomas Liu, Deputy Director, Sales, Beijing Dynamic Power Co.: DPC is committed to the continuous design and manufacture of innovative and competitive products with robust reliability, customer-oriented flexibility and highly competitive prices to bring benefits to our customers and partners. We listen to our customers needs and ensure that we understand them, making sure that we are around for support from the very beginning


Jet powered microturbine gensetsoffer a more efficient alternative to traditional DGsInnovative solution is more cost effective, cleaner, greener, quieter, burns just about any liquid or gas fuel and breaks even compared with DGs after approximately 15 months

TowerXchange: Where do Bladon Jets fit in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: We have invested considerably in R&D over the last 5 years and perfected the design and manufacture of low cost jet powered microturbine gensets (MTGs). Our MTGs are positioned to replace diesel generators as the primary or backup power solution at cell sites, thanks to our superior performance and reliability. Bladon’s MTGs are ultra quiet, clean and green, small and light, which is critical at shared cell sites.

Jet engines aren’t new. This is a 70 year old technology, and is the power of choice at 40,000ft. Our secret sauce is not so much a new technology as a manufacturing methodology that enables us to produce microturbines economically in volume. One of our most important manufacturing techniques is a process to cut turbine blades from a single piece of material. Our units are about 30% smaller than a diesel generator, yet they generate the same power. We’ve been able to manufacture to a price point such that our MTGs are commercially viable compared to reciprocating diesel gensets.

TowerXchange: How did your micro jet engines evolve as a solution for cell sites?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: TATA became excited about our micro turbines and invested via Jaguar Land Rover in 2010. The first incarnation was actually in the Jaguar CX75 concept supercar, but the ancillary application of

Read this article to learn:< How Bladon Jets harnessed the power of choice at 40,000ft for static power solutions< The size and weight advantages of MTGs over traditional DGs< A low maintenance solution: no oil, no water, only one big moving part< The importance of an energy efficient solution that compliments your existing supply chain – MTGs can run on almost any liquid or gas fuel< Months to breakeven/crossover in different scenarios, compared with traditional DGs

Keywords: Africa, Asia, Bladon Jets, Capex, DG Runtime, Energy, Fuel Cell, Hybrid Power, Off-Grid, Opex Reduction, RMS, ROI, Rooftop, Shelters, Site Visits, Skilled Workforces, Solar, Spare Parts, Unreliable Grid, Uptime, Who’s Who

It’s not often TowerXchange comes across a genuinely innovative alternative to a traditional diesel genset that provides primary or backup power to many emerging market cell towers, but when we heard about Bladon Jet’s micro turbine gensets (MTG), we had to find out more! While the MTG is cleaner and quieter than a traditional DG, with almost no maintenance requirements, what makes the MTG particularly interesting to towercos is the fact that they are more efficient and are cleaner and quieter than a similar powered DG. Delivering cleaner and more efficient energy are key business requirements we continuously see from mobile operators and towercos.Stuart Kelly, Bladon Jets


the technology was for static power solutions for telecoms.

We are finalising our market entry strategy to sell 12kW MTGs into telecoms. For us the towercos, managed service providers and MNOs themselves are all prospective clients.

TowerXchange: Which telecom markets are you targeting and why?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: Given the Tata connection, an early market will be India. The continent of Africa is also a key market for Bladon’s products. We have conducted field trials in Africa over the last few months and learned valuable feedback from our partners there. Some of our field trial units have been running nonstop for 1000+ hours without ANY filter changes or servicing. That’s a really compelling proposition to towercos that are crippled with genset maintenance costs.

We have attended TowerXchange Meetups around the world to share Bladon’s vision with MNOs and towercos. With so many assets changing ownership in Africa, there is a new focus and financial drive to leverage tower assets harder. When towers are bought, or being prepared for sale, audits often reveal the assets aren’t operating as efficiently as the owner might have thought. But the new owners don’t want to create too much turbulence in the supply chain, so it’s important that our solution complements the existing energy supply chain in developing markets.

TowerXchange: Tell us about your solution’s maintenance requirements.

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: Microturbine engines are a low or no maintenance solution. Unlike a diesel reciprocating engine, there is no oil and no liquid coolant in our solution. We have just one moving part, the turbine itself, which runs on air bearings with no liquid lubrication. Maintenance is a key issue at remote sites that might be many hours drive on a lousy road – the cost to get there can kill the TCO – so a technology

with the potential to dramatically reduce site visits can be very compelling. There is a very low skill requirement to maintain our MTGs – in the highly unlikely event of a turbine failure, our strategy is remove and replace, not rebuild onsite. For lesser maintenance issues, such as filter changes, the O&M subcontractor can readily maintain a stock of fuel and air filters.

As well as reducing fuel and maintenance costs, thieves are less inclined to steal our MTGs as there are few if any parts they can recycle.

Clean, green and ultra low maintenance makes the MTG most attractive for telecom sites


Aspiring ESCOs that are currently in the business of maintaining traditional diesel gensets have an opportunity to profit handsomely by deploying a more reliable solution like ours – their goal of selling at a price per kWh rate becomes more compelling. Our MTG unit has robust telemetry built in, so you need fewer field engineers as many settings can be changed remotely. From the NOC you can see if units are operating outside of their tolerances, enabling preventive maintenance rather than waiting for it to break. Also, and not insignificant for the tower operator, is the use of telemetry to know where the unit is as well as having the inbuilt electronics to stop the unit operating if moved without permission – the same technology as a tracker system on a car.

TowerXchange: Okay, so what are the advantages of micro jet engines over other alternate energy solutions such as fuel cells or solar?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: There is no reliable or sustainable supply chain to support hydrogen or methane fuel in Africa yet. As a technology that is hostile to the current supply chain, the practical challenges of keeping fuel cells running are prohibitive to embracing that particular alternative energy solution in more than perhaps 20% of the estate. Let’s be honest, green power is not widely used on cell sites. In India for example, eco-friendly cell sites account for less than 1% of the estate, but tower owners still want to migrate away from the reciprocating diesel genset because of the substantial energy and maintenance opex it incurs. We don’t see our solution as an

alternative to a 200sqm PV array; our solution is so much more compact that the use cases differ significantly. Solar isn’t the optimum alternate energy solution for all cell sites; even in Africa, sites don’t get good quality sunshine all the time, especially in high rise areas with shadows. You can install solar panels on an urban rooftop, and find that six months later the neighboring building has had five floors added! Our solution doesn’t succumb to such vagaries. Solar has to be a part of the future, but in the context of telecom towers it’s not a killer app, it’s a point solution. Our MTGs can be used to smooth power from solar as well as replacing a chugging tractor engine based generator. When renewables work the MTG can become a part core part backup, there are no startup issues even if it’s left idle for some considerable time between use. The fuel will contaminate before the genset has a problem!

But the important thing is that this is an evolution not a revolution – the MTG can be adapted to any

local fuel supply resource. Bladon gensets, in keeping with all turbine based solutions, run on a wide range of fuels, including green alternatives such as natural gas and biofuels as well as diesel and kerosene. Bladon MTGs will also tolerate a blend of fuels like diesel mixed with kerosene thus making the mix useless for thieves planning on using it for other diesel engines.

TowerXchange: How does the capital outlay for your MTGs compare to traditional DGs, and when does the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) crossover?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: The capital outlay for an MTG is currently slightly higher than a quality diesel genset solution, but the price difference is a double not triple digit percentage. Running for 12 hours a day in SSA in 30° heat then within 15-19 months the TCO will crossover having recovered the difference in capital outlay through fuel and maintenance cost savings.

“ “We don’t see our solution as an alternative to a 200sqm PV array; our solution is so much more compact that the use cases differ significantly


TowerXchange: How near are your MTGs for telecom to being a market-ready solution?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: We go into production later this year. The first run of MTGs have already been ordered, and we’ve signed distribution agreements already with partners in Africa and India. We’ll be manufacturing in the UK, and in Asia soon too, and from the US in due course.

TowerXchange: What is the sweet spot in terms of the load your solutions can support?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: Our Bladon MTG12 MTG delivers up to 12kW, with output options 230V AC or 120V AC. We also have a 48V DC output variant that telecom clients tend to like. Most telecom sites need somewhere between 3kW and 6kW for constant power, maybe 9kW if there is a hybrid arrangement requiring battery bank charging. Since the MTG runs at variable speed to match the load our efficiencies are much better at partial loads compared to traditional DGs

TowerXchange: How do you ensure modularity as power requirements increase with the addition of multiple tenants?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: Given that operators are trying to drive power consumption down, a new BTS might need 1kW when the last model needed 2kW. At the moment the applications we see don’t consume more the 3kW in total, so it should be possible to add a second

tenant without upgrading the MTG. Because our unit doesn’t de-rate over time, its ability to deliver continuous power is stronger. The MTG is a more reliable means of delivery of consistent power than a conventional DG for a multi-tenant site. If additional tenants are added beyond what one MTG can provide, the answer is to add a second unit in a daisy chain. And if the power requirement reduces again, our units are relatively easy to relocate to another tower. Another critical consideration is that the MTG can be 25% more efficient as a reciprocating engine when running at part load.

TowerXchange: How do you bring Bladon Jets to market – do you sell direct or through channel partners?

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: Our model is to sell through partners. Towercos and MNOs need the credibility of boots on the ground to provide after sales service, even with a low maintenance solution such as ours. We are targeting key managed service providers on the front lines of tower builds, upgrades and maintenance, with the objective of creating a pipeline for thousands of unit sales.

TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you would differentiate Bladon Jets from other cell site energy solution providers.

Stuart Kelly, VP Market Development, Bladon Jets: We’ve taken a well known form of power generation in the reciprocating engine, turned it on its head and married it with another established

technology in jet engines, then developed a manufacturing process to bring to market an innovative solution with a lower TCO business case for telecom tower operators. Micro jet engines are ultra reliable, super durable, low maintenance, and generally have a TCO runway in Africa and India from 9 to 19 months. The MTG is designed to support the current supply chain, which means our solutions can be easily introduced with an expectation of a short term payback. The fact that it’s an exciting jet engine is only so interesting – what matters is reducing fuel bills, and the ability to deploy it into the field easier and cheaper than a regular diesel genset

“

“

We go into production later this year. The first run of MTGs have already been ordered, and we’ve signed distribution agreements already with partners in Africa and India


HIMOINSA: power solutionsfor the global telecom industryThe benefits of selecting a vertically integrated manufacturer and distributor

TowerXchange: Please introduce yourself, HIMOINSA and its offering.

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: I am in charge of sales and marketing for HIMOINSA, a global corporation and member of Yanmar group, that designs, manufactures and distributes power generation equipment worldwide.

At HIMOINSA, we are acutely aware of the specific needs of the telecom sector and we have developed generator sets and hybrid power solutions specially designed for them, providing efficient and reliable power.

The company has nine production plants located in China, India, Spain, France, Brazil, the United States and Argentina. These highly productive facilities are robotised and utilise the latest manufacturing techniques. HIMOINSA also has eleven subsidiaries around the world located in Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Poland, Singapore, Panama, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Angola, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

TowerXchange: Which clients do you typically serve?

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: We have extensive experience in the telecommunications sector, having supplied thousands of generator sets on the international market to well-known telecom companies and we are ranking among the top six vendors in the global generator market for this sector, according to Technavio Research’s recent studies.

Read this article to learn:< HIMOINSA’s footprint, customers and range of power solutions< The benefits of selecting power gensets designed to reduce site visits< Some recent field applications of HIMOINSA’s products in Spain, Asia and South America< Why should telecom operators select vertically integrated solution providers

HIMOINSA was founded in 1982 since when it has grown to become one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of power generation solutions. To date, it serves mobile network operators in Europe, Africa and the Americas with its diesel and hybrid gensets. In this interview, TowerXchange discusses with HIMOINSA’s Sales & Marketing Director, Guillermo Elum, some of their most recent field applications and range of products.

Keywords: Asia, Batteries, Central America, DG Runtime, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Europe, Fuel Security, HIMOINSA, Hybrid Power, Multi-Region, Renewables, Site Visits, South America, Uptime, Who’s Who

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA


International telecom operators believe in the reliability of HIMOINSA generator sets and, since it was founded, the company has supplied equipment to leading companies such as Vodacom, Ericsson, Orange, Tunisiana, Maroc Telecom, France Telecom, Movistar, Telefónica, Viva, Claro and Entel. We are providing our customers not only high quality generators but also our deep technical know-how to adapt our products to their projects and needs.

TowerXchange: How proven are your solutions in the field? Can you give us some practical examples of the performance of your products?

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: Our company is constantly working on the manufacturing of generator sets for telecom operators all over the world.

Recently, we have delivered a 2MW genset for a Telefónica’s data center based in Barcelona, Spain. We supplied also twenty-four generators to the first Tier IV-certified data center in South America and 24MW for the data center of the largest e-commerce company in the Asia-Pacific region, the Alibaba Group.

TowerXchange: How has your solution been designed to maximise autonomy and minimise the number of site visits required?

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: We are highly focused on the development of user-friendly control units and geolocation devices. We have just released our new

Fleet Manager that can locate the generator sets and control fuel consumption levels, as well as any malfunction or breakdown in the equipment at remote locations where access is complicated.

We have developed generator sets equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the telecom sector. Our generator sets require maintenance every 1,000 hours and could be equipped with 1,000-litre fuel tanks, which allow our customers to considerably reduce fuelling and maintenance visits to the site.

These generator sets have a longer running time, thereby guaranteeing lower operating costs and making them among the most competitive solutions on the market. In addition to the standard fuel tank, which can be connected to remote bulk tanks, we can provide a range of large capacity, double wall fuel tanks, which offer high integrated running.

TowerXchange: What magnitude of fuel consumption savings can your solar-hybrid gensets deliver?

One of HIMOINSA’s HPS hybrid generator sets


Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: HIMOINSA has developed the HPS 1500DCV and HPS 3000DCV hybrid generator sets with a variable speed engine which guarantees 40% fuel consumption savings when compared to a standard generator set and 20% when compared with other fixed-speed hybrid gensets currently available on the market. They can operate efficiently without any kind of maintenance for four months. Whereas a standard genset with the same

1000h maintenance kit requires maintenance every month, our Hybrid Power Solution only requires maintenance every four months.

TowerXchange: Please sum up how you would differentiate your solutions from your competitors’?

Guillermo Elum, Sales & Marketing Director, HIMOINSA: I find our ability to offer an integral service a great added value to companies that operate in the telecom sector. Most of the time, telecom projects are developed by engineering companies specialised in IT, which are unaware of the idiosyncrasy of the power generation field.

I believe that our technical capacity and availability to support and advise our customers from the very beginning to the completion of the project does make a difference. Moreover, being a vertically integrated company manufacturing all the genset components in-house, HIMOINSA not only delivers the highest quality product but is also able to guarantee the shortest delivery times in the market.

We offer a complete telecom range from 8 kVA to 45 kVA, providing hybrid solutions that include batteries and reduce the environmental impact as they can be connected to renewable technologies. All our models are equipped with Yanmar engines, which currently boast the lowest fuel consumption on the market, as well as very low level of noise emissions. Having Yanmar as a partner in this project is one of HIMOINSA's strongest points

“ “We source our steel mainly from ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel producer - we don’t use second rate steel. It’s important to confirm that your tower manufacturer uses raw material from a reputable company

““

HIMOINSA has developed the HPS 1500DCV and HPS 3000DCV hybrid generator sets with a variable speed engine which guarantees 40% fuel consumption savings when compared to a standard generator set and 20% when compared with other fixed-speed hybrid gensets currently available on the market

Meetup Africa& ME 2017

Meetup Asia 2017



Meetup Europe 2018

3-4 October, Johannesburg

12-13 December, Singapore

20-21 June, Boca Raton

17-18 April, London


How MediPower makesgoing off-grid in Europe easy An innovative offering for remote and rural towers in Italy is growing across Europe

TowerXchange: Please introduce MediPower to our readers, and explain your offering in the European market. Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower: In the European telecom industry scenario, MediPower is a pathfinder company which has been able, for almost 14 years, to offer a different concept in the supply of power to local MNOs. The new business model introduced by MediPower was based on the idea to replace, and effectively act as, the national provider of a commercial grid, servicing those sites which were still too remote to be touched by the national electrification plan of the country, and those locations where customers required temporary power for their equipment.

So, with our wealth of experience in the generating sets business, and being a genset manufacturer with more than 80 years’ pedigree, Ausonia’s management team decided to create its own Energy Service Company (ESCo), named MediPower, with the aim of taking responsibility for all the power-related aspects for its customers, guaranteeing MNOs a stable and continuous energy supply to their sites, based on a monthly payable service fee. To do that, Ausonia and MediPower joined their strengths to design and produce a range of diesel generators which had to have specific features in order to reach the lowest TCO and to generate an attractive offer based on OPEX. Since then, thousands of sites have been powered by our gensets, which have been installed, maintained (both in the preventive and corrective sense), overhauled, refueled, remotely monitored and managed by MediPower NOC throughout the Italian territory.

Read this article to learn:< MediPower’s offering in the European market < How the ESCO model can be rolled out across Europe < The different energy needs of towercos and MNOs < How market consolidation and M&A will change energy needs

Keywords: Albania, Ausonia, ESCOs, Editorials, Energy, Europe, Greece, Hybrid Power, Italy, MediPower, Off-Grid, Opex Reduction, Renewables, SLA, Solar, Unreliable Grid, Uptime, Wind

While ESCOs are gaining traction in Africa, in Europe most towers are in easy reach of reliable national grids. However, for those towers which are off grid, either because of their remote location or temporary nature, handing over responsibility for power to a third party is a very attractive proposition for European tower owners, Massimo Ombra, President of MediPower, talks us through the details.

Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower


Today we serve all four Italian MNOs (Vodafone, TIM, Wind and H3G), with a market share above 80% and being sole supplier to three out of the four previously mentioned MNOs. At the same time we are exploring different opportunities in other European countries where our OPEX business model seems to be attractive to MNOs and towercos. TowerXchange: What is MediPower’s strategy to expand its power lease-based business across Europe? Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower: After several years of continuous successes, a few years ago we reached the maximum market share we could ever think to achieve in Italy, basically due to two main reasons: the first one is that some MNOs have got specific internal policies forcing them to keep at least two suppliers for energy services; the second one is that the number of off-grid sites in Italy could change only in terms of a few sites per year, as the grid network is well distributed and it covers almost the entire Italian territory.

Since we are ambitious and we strongly believe in the benefits and advantages our services can provide to our customers, we started looking over the Italian border, mainly at Greece, Spain, Albania and other countries where the commercial power network is not as well distributed and reliable as it is in Italy. As part of this process, we started discussions with different European MNOs and towercos, in order to explore business opportunities in the region and verify if our OPEX-based approach could match their energy requirements and cost savings targets. We have deepened such discussions with some of them

and, once the opportunity is close to materialising, we will soon launch the relevant new country-based opcos. The implementation of our business model in a new country is quite easy and quick to achieve, as the technological framework which is behind it is ready to be replicated and immediately deployed, so that we can start offering our energy services to any new customer in Europe within a short period. The sooner we launch our new opco, the sooner our customers start enjoying the benefits, in a win-win business cooperation. TowerXchange: Can you talk us through the energy needs of Italian towers? What are the main drivers for your clients’ energy demands? How does this differ from other parts of the world?

Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower: When it comes to power, we see that Europe is different from other parts of the world, and, within Europe itself, every country has its own power requirements and territorial distribution of the energy needs.

In Italy, the energy we sell to our customers is mainly required on sites which are quite difficult to reach, such as the Alps or remote areas, and on temporary sites which are still not reached by the National Grid. In other countries, the main energy need is concentrated on islands, forests, wild areas or simply to give energy to small communities. All this represents a very challenging scenario in which to perform our business, as from a logistical point of view accessibility to the site is difficult and the genset rotation on temporary sites, at least in Italy, is


close to two months. On sites which are unlikely to be reached by a national electrification plan, the rotation ratio is much higher, so we try, as much as we can, to adopt green energy solutions, with the aim to strongly reduce OPEX and bring down the logistical costs relevant to site visits for maintenance and refueling.

Within this scenario, MediPower is able to provide high efficiency and green energy solutions, based on the deployment of Ausonia products such as high efficiency DC gensets and hybrid power systems, integrated with renewable energy sources such as solar and/or wind. By doing this we can definitively state that the significant advantage of having MediPower as an energy partner is the fact that our customers are no longer dependent on CAPEX for their power needs, as they can enjoy of a “pay per use” energy service, totally complementary to the electrification process of their network. TowerXchange: In a market where there is a large amount of towerco activity, what differences do you see between how towercos and MNOs respond to energy needs? Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower: Generally speaking, both MNOs and towercos are moving from a CAPEX based selection towards a TCO analysis of the energy solutions, as their attention to OPEX is very important and the control over these variable costs is a key tool in monitoring their own operational performance.

Additionally, the energy demand is generally variable, as it mostly depends on the strategies they adopt in their different markets. In fact, if we consider sites

with one MNO only (single tenant), the site power consumption is today generally reduced compared to a few years ago, thanks to the new technologies of the telecom equipment installed on site, and it’s typically stable over the period.

But if we look at the towercos, which have an interest in entering into multi-tenancy agreements and sharing their costs over more customers, the site power consumption is typically subject to variations over the period, as it depends on the total number of tenants in collocation. This forces them to look for efficient, scalable and reliable energy solutions which can guarantee them the lowest TCO, in order to always optimise the energy production costs in terms of $/kWh.

We have also to highlight that there is a clear tendency for both MNOs and towercos to subcontract the power supply and all relevant issues, in order to stay focused on their natural business and following development. This is something already happening in Africa and other regions, but the process is clearly slowed down by the hesitations which arise during the evaluation of the potential energy partner(s) to be selected, which must be financially and operationally reliable, as the powering of the network will be based on their service performance. Of course, the introduction of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and strict ratios for power availability can help them to identify which company can really perform the services successfully, especially in the short term, during the ramp-up period. Honestly, we think this process will still take several years to be widely used among the telecom industry players, but it’s something that is

definitely going to happen, creating a new category of energy service and solutions vendors. TowerXchange: The Italian market is due to change again with the entry of Iliad’s Free Mobile, what’s your take on how this will affect the status quo? Massimo Ombra, President, MediPower: It will definitely be interesting to see what will happen upon the entry of Iliad’s Free Mobile into the Italian market, once the green light is given by the European Union to the joint venture between Wind and H3G. The low-cost tariffs which are going to be offered by the French company will force all the rest of the mobile operators to react fast, creating a more competitive market and more attractive offers to the subscribers.

With reference to our energy service business covering the entire national territory, we see this new entry as an opportunity to extend our offering to Free Mobile, and it’s worth bearing in mind that that some of their future sites are already currently powered by our fleet of gensets, because of the energy supply agreements we signed with both Wind and H3G for their off-grid and temporary sites. Additionally, among their priorities, it seems that Free Mobile will have to build a big portion of its network infrastructure for mobile base stations, which will be additional to those inherited from Wind and H3G, and we are ready to offer the extension of our energy services even to any additional site where they would decide to enjoy of the advantages and benefits MediPower can offer to them with for many years


NorthStar: more than justa battery companyMarket leaders in premium lead acid batteries committed to understanding and resolving their customers’ energy storage problems

Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery

TowerXchange: Please introduce NorthStar to our readers - what role do you play in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: Since 2000 NorthStar’s telecom batteries and site solutions have been delivered in more than 150 countries. NorthStar helps its customers globally to extend battery life and save energy by providing High Performance AGM Batteries specially designed for different grids and telecom applications – I believe today NorthStar Batteries makes the best AGM batteries in the industry. But NorthStar Battery is more than just a battery company. We also have a unique expertise in power systems for emerging markets which is key to optimise battery life and energy saving. TowerXchange: We usually ask how many cell sites in Africa, LatAm and Asia the interviewee’s solutions are installed - I guess that may be difficult to specify given the scale of NorthStar’s business! However, can you give us a sense of the size of your telecoms business in those three regions. Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: Tens of thousands sites in MEA are equipped with NorthStar products. In Pakistan alone, Northstar has equipped over 5,000 sites with a pure fuel saving application delivering outstanding results. Many thousands of hybrid

Read this article to learn:< Why premium lead-acid batteries remain the best compromise between capex and opex

< How to choose the right battery for the grid profile and application

< How to overcome common problems in the installation and setting of batteries

< How to cool batteries with just 40W, even at 30-40°C ambient

< How to protect batteries from theft and vandalism

NorthStar is more than just a battery company. They’ve made a commitment to really supporting their customers. A commitment to help customers select the right batteries. A commitment to identify and resolve power system problems, even if they aren’t caused by batteries. And a commitment to manufacture, and dispose of, lead-acid batteries in an environmentally aware manner. Of course, NorthStar also manufactures premium lead acid batteries which they say represent the best compromise between capex and opex, which is why they are one of the market leaders in energy storage for emerging market cell sites.

Keywords: Who’s Who, How to Guide, Meetup Preview, Energy, Installation, Opex Reduction, Batteries, Fuel Security, Air Conditioning, Off-Grid, Unreliable Grid, ROI, Hybrid Power, DG Runtime, Dimensioning, Procurement, Warehousing, Shelters, Rectifiers, Africa, Asia, Pakistan, NorthStar Battery


sites in Africa have been equipped with NorthStar technology since 2000. TowerXchange: Why are lead acid batteries standing up to the challenge of alternate energy storage chemistries in a telecom context? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: Frank Fleming, our renowned CTO, has a strong belief that lead acid can remain the technology of choice for telecom energy storage for the next 50 years, as long as we push the limits of the design. We also want to push back against the bad environmental image of lead acid batteries, which is why we invested massively in environmental controls when we built our new factory. Many of our key customers select NorthStar as their preferred / strategic supplier partly because of our strong environmental control. Corporate Social Responsibility policies make environmental control a key target for companies like Ericsson, with whom we’ve been a key strategic partner since 2002. We’re also strategic suppliers to NSN, Huawei and ZTE. TowerXchange: How much tailoring to the specific requirements of individual sites can really be achieved through the selection of batteries? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: One battery cannot fit all applications. You need different chemistry

depending on the grid profile and energy situation. There’s a huge difference between the battery you should deploy on a stable grid in USA, compared with the unpredictability of the grid in Pakistan, and pure off grid applications in Myanmar for example. NorthStar differentiates ourselves by offering different chemistry depending on the application and grid profile. Whereas with other vendors the battery is a standard, commoditized component, forcing site designers to solve their problems through the modification of other power systems, NorthStar have been able to customise the design of our batteries for different grid availability and telecom applications. For example, one of the most unstable grids we have experienced was in Bangladesh. No matter what power system we used, there were so many repeated power outages that it seemed we were never able to fully recharge our batteries. That presents a problem for traditional lead acid energy storage technology, but we were able to modify our electro chemistry to be fully partial state of charge (PSOC) compatible. TowerXchange: Why is the replacement cycle so much shorter for batteries on developing market cell sites, and what can be done to deliver reliable, sustainable power? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: We think there is too little

understanding of why batteries are failing. While the right choice of battery is crucial, it’s as much about the electrochemistry as it is the choice of supplier – so simply switching to a different supplier won’t fix the problem. Energy storage solutions need to be redesigned to provide reliable, sustainable power to cell sites in emerging markets, providing faster recharge, high cyclic, high temperature, high efficiency operation. You need to deploy the right power system, on the right settings and ensure it’s installed properly. This is why we are lauching the NorthStar Academy – to help to extend battery life by two to three times and save energy. While some battery vendors may prefer their batteries die sooner to accelerate replacement cycles and sales volumes, NorthStar want to make sure our batteries last a long time and deliver the opex savings targeted. Our success comes from our people in the field, people with a background from the power industry, who can address power system problems holistically and who can help our customers fix those problems. If it’s not a battery problem, we don’t just say “talk to the power system vendor”, we help the customer to change controller settings, cabling et cetera – training their people to avoid repeating mistakes. TowerXchange: I understand NorthStar initially, and to a certain extent still do, sell a significant proportion of batteries via OEMs – how does the entry of the independent towercos affect the


criteria against which energy storage solutions are acquired?

Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: We have always had a strong strategic relationship with OEMs and we will always will. But we also realised we need to accelerate the battery technology and solutions awareness at the end customer level such as with towercos as they are more and more driving the battery selection process. Our technology has been approved already by two major emerging market towercos this year. We still see a few examples where energy storage

solution selection is driven by short term capex savings, resulting in a temporary improvement in the P&L. However, making the wrong decisions in the selection of energy storage is does not yield performance improvements that are sustainable in the medium and long term, particularly at unstable and off grid sites. There are only three or four factories worldwide that can manufacture premium AGM batteries. But the good thing about premium AGM is that they have a two year shelf life thus we can then easily maintain inventories in hubs all around the world and provide a short lead time to our customers; we adapt to the logistical challenges to ensure

our products are available as close as possible to market.

TowerXchange: What is the performance, and cost, difference when using premium lead acid batteries versus lower cost alternatives at cell sites in harsh conditions?

Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: A premium AGM (thin plate technology) would normally cost 30% more than a Standard AGM battery with three to four times greater storage life and up to five times longer operating life in real harsh conditions (typically 2.5 X the life). A lot of our customers are migrating from dual DG to DG plus battery hybrids to cut DG runtime by 50% or more. If you want to optimise energy efficiency programmes, you have to think about total efficiency; about DG efficiency, the efficiency of rectifiers, and the efficiency of batteries. A standard battery can suffer two to three times more loss than a premium battery, which can make a huge difference for some applications. A premium, fast charge battery can take a lot of energy to recharge the battery in short time, which enables the customer to run the DG faster and more efficiently, for a shorter time. For example, when we rolled out NorthStar Blue Technology in Pakistan, we found that most of the operators were buying low cost batteries because of their focus on capex. When they saw that at off

Delivering reliable and sustainable power to the world

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grid sites we were cutting DG runtime by up to 85%, we helped them realise that it doesn’t even matter if you replace in your batteries every two to three years if you payback the investment in three to four months.

NorthStar Blue Technology is ideal for unstable and off grid sites; it’s a fast charge, high efficiency battery with Partial State of Charge (PSOC) compatibility. If used in a hybrid genset combination, it offers the best capex and opex compromise. Other technology such as sodium and lithium batteries are two to three times the price and are not so easy to implement in large scale projects.

TowerXchange: Why are telecom batteries failing so early? And what are the key steps towercos and MNOs can take to extend battery life? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: We need to increase customer awareness of the root cause of batteries problems. What NorthStar have done, and what all the battery manufacturers should have done, is make an assessment on over 60 countries where our batteries had been installed, to find out what were the key challenges were with using batteries, and to and try to find a solution for each: 1 Make sure to select the right battery based on grid and application including sizing/dimensioning; in too many cases there is not enough power to

recharge the batteries. Our recommendation is that customers need to use different chemistries for different locations.

2 Solve installation and setting issues: everything from cabling the battery properly to controller settings (charging voltage, boost timing et cetera); low voltage disconnect; temperature sensor configuration and cooling systems. Too many site installers don’t even know how many rectifiers they need to recharge the batteries – spending an extra US$200 on a rectifier can save a US$5,000 battery bank. 3 Temperature: a 10°C change in temperature can reduce battery performance by as much as

30-50%. But air conditioning just to cool energy storage elements costs a lot of money. A few years ago we partnered with one of the most famous fridge manufacturers to leverage proven consumer product technology into the telecom fields. We took the high efficiency, high reliability DC compressor cooling technology, added a unique cabinet structure and made the world’s most efficient telecom battery cooler called SiteStar. We can now cool batteries with just 40W even at 30-40°C ambient. Over 30,000 sites have been equipped with our SiteStar technology to date with very positive feedback from the field. 4 Protect batteries from theft and vandalism: One approach we’re trying is to protect batteries in a

Source: NorthStar Battery

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safe-like structure. We’ve co-operated with a safe manufacturer to come up with a cabinet which used to be a safe box; made of robust, very thick metal. Another area we’re starting to explore is advanced locking systems.

In some countries theft is related to the parallel market; at one point batteries were even being resold to the operators from which they were stolen! This was resolved with a relatively easy to fix – an engraving that cannot be removed. In other cases the parallel market is home usage, but I feel that’s minimal. No single approach to combating theft can be successful everywhere as there are different causes of theft, from theft by large organisation’s to pilferage within the fuel supply chain. Ultimately combating theft requires working with the operators and towercos to develop an understanding of the nature of their theft problem and what budget they can afford to resolve it. Theft is a problem, and we want to address it. NorthStar can help MNOs and towercos overcome all four of these challenges. I’m particularly concerned when people talk about minimising the competence required of people in the field. While the solution needs to be as simple as possible to be installed and operated, the competence of the average field engineer is not necessarily the same in Southern Asia and Africa as it might be in Europe. We see a lot of mistakes in installation, and we’re happy to the deliver first training at the

NorthStar Academy on the basic principles – we can put all the installers in one room, identify common problems and misconceptions, and make corrective actions. TowerXchange: How do NorthStar ensure you remain sensitive to environmental considerations from manufacture to disposal? Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: NorthStar has invested heavily in building the most environmentally advanced battery plant in the world. But our environmental policies actually start from the design of the product; making sure the battery is designed to last longer and also not to deteriorate beyond the end of its life. We are also developing an advanced solution to operate batteries with the minimum energy consumption – our SiteStar battery cooler designed in Sweden is still the most energy efficient Battery cooler in the industry. TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you would differentiate NorthStar’s batteries from other energy storage solutions for remote cell sites. Thierry Tardivent, Head of MEA and APAC, NorthStar Battery: Most battery companies are focusing only on selling their own components. But NorthStar are more than just a battery company. We take a different approach – we really want to help our customers (as well as help ourselves). How we support our customers

is a tangible, core value for NorthStar Batteries. In the past few years we’ve assessed the typical problems faced by our customers, and come up with solutions for what can we do to extend battery life and save energy. We seek to understand our customers’ problems. We’ll audit your site for you and we won’t leave without giving you an analysis of the problem and corrective actions. You won’t get an “it’s not a battery problem – talk to power system vendor” attitude with NorthStar – we have a strong competence on the whole power solution, not just the batteries. We’ve changed the focus of our business to help our customers understand how to select the right batteries. One best electro-chemistry and battery technology isn’t right for all grid profiles and applications. For example, low technology batteries could be good enough for some developed market applications. But battery performance is more problematic in developing markets, so we’ve developed energy storage solutions for unreliable and off grid applications which we think represent the best compromise between capex and opex. Lastly we are developing solutions which have a very quick payback. Payback after five to ten years won’t work in telecom industry – everything needs to pay for itself in less than two years. NorthStar are focused on developing the best opex solutions, with affordable capex and quick payback – making our energy storage solutions a ‘no brainer’!


Powering toward cost reductionHow Vertiv’s global experience is helping European tower owners reduce costs

TowerXchange: Please introduce Vertiv, your background and how the company was formed.

Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: Vertiv designs, builds and services critical infrastructure that enables vital applications for data centres, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities. Formerly Emerson Network Power, Vertiv supports today’s growing mobile and cloud computing markets with a portfolio of power, thermal and infrastructure management solutions including the ASCO®, Chloride®, Liebert®, NetSure™ and Trellis™ brands. Sales in fiscal 2016 were $4.4 billion. Vertiv, in its current form, is the result of decades of organic growth and strategic acquisitions of the best companies in their class. TowerXchange: Can you talk to us about your global scope and particularly about your footprint and focus in the European market? Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: Vertiv serves virtually all major telecom operators and leading tower companies in Europe and around the world. We provide critical infrastructure products and services for deployment in mobile access and fixed line networks as well as telecom core and data centre facilities globally. In addition, we provide a complete range of services to help customers improve the operating performance of their critical infrastructure, deliver capacity expansion and optimise energy costs for operating their infrastructure.

Read this article to learn:< How Vertiv was formed and their key solutions for communication networks

< Vertiv’s experiences of how European towers compare to other markets

< How 5G will impact power usage in Europe

< The impact of new and creative power solutions on the European tower landscape

Keywords: 5G, Batteries, DAS, Editorial, Energy, Energy Storage, Europe, Fuel Cell, Hybrid Power, IoT, On-Grid, Opex Reduction, Renewables, Rooftop, Small Cells, Solar, Tenancy Ratios

From enabling pay-per-use power models to driving technological advances which help towers become greener and more efficient, Vertiv offers a host of advanced solutions which can enhance the European tower power landscape. We spoke to Christopher Williams, Vice President of communication networks for Vertiv in Europe, Middle East & Africa, about how the company has evolved, what they are offering the market today and their vision for the future of European towers.

Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv


As a truly global company, Vertiv has the capability and organisation to help customers roll out critical infrastructure projects wherever in the world. TowerXchange: How do you find the European market differs to other (emerging) markets and what benefits do you see for towercos? Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: Europe is largely a developed market where there is explosive growth and demand for high-speed data. Social media, online gaming and video consumption, in particular, are driving ever-increasing needs for higher capacity and coverage on mobile networks. This will benefit the towercos as there will be significant infrastructure investments required to meet these needs, resulting in demand for new towers and opportunities to bring new tenants on to existing tower infrastructure. Another benefit for the towercos in Europe is that there are significantly higher rooftop counts in Europe than in emerging markets. These rooftop sites are a strong potential source of increased revenue generation for adding new tenants in areas where it is difficult and complex to build out new tower infrastructure. Europe has a strong and largely reliable energy grid, whereas the power grid does not even exist – or is unreliable – in many emerging markets. Renewable energy options, such as solar, are widely deployed in these markets to power telecom sites. Hybrid sites running on renewable energy sources are being

deployed in certain areas within Europe but not anywhere near the scale of deployment in emerging markets. However, the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources at tower sites in Asia and Africa has boosted the market, driving technological advances in alternative power (especially solar) and in the equipment at those sites. More efficient equipment reduces the power demands, making alternative sources more viable. All of this is contributing to significant cost reductions, and as the cost of alternative energy solutions drops, it’s only a matter of time until more developed regions turn to renewable alternatives. That shift may be accelerated as governments in Europe push harder to reduce carbon emissions. Finally, Europe is a mature market, and while there are still parts of Europe that are building and rolling

out networks, it’s more common that towercos are interested in driving costs out of their existing infrastructure through site consolidation and energy efficiency improvements wherever possible. That need has given rise to an increase in shared towers vs. traditional single-operator-owned towers, giving tower owners the opportunity to increase revenue per tower by leasing use to multiple tenants. TowerXchange: Can you tell us a little about how the European tower market is using your products right now? Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: As tower companies move from single-operator tenancy to multi-tenant business models after acquiring towers from an operator, moving from flat-rate costs for


things like power to pay-for-use models becomes a priority. One of our products is helping to enable this shift. The NetSure™ 5100 Multi-Tenant system allocates power use per tenant so billing can be divided by use rather than generalised with flat rates. The system also delivers maximum efficiency through eSure™ rectifiers and is suitable for use in extreme temperatures. Beyond that, we provide solutions across the critical infrastructure – from outside plant cabinets and enclosures, to software designed to increase visibility across the network. Perhaps most importantly, we’re helping to simplify these complex networks by introducing increasingly intelligent solutions that enable more efficient, effective network management. TowerXchange: As 5G and network densification becomes a reality for tower owners in Europe, how do you see their needs changing over the next few years? Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: Among the many uncertainties regarding 5G, there are a few givens: the 5G network will deliver vastly increased capacity to exponentially more devices with low latency. That will require many new small cells being introduced into the network, and present an opportunity for towercos to provide a new offering: location services. Along with the need to create these

small cells comes the question of where best to put them, and no one is as well positioned to make those determinations as tower providers. The Internet of Things, 5G architecture, intelligent vehicles, and the preponderance of mobile devices are driving the need for intelligent data centres at the edge of the network. Content needs to be cached as close to the user as possible, and intelligence that once resided in a central facility needs to be distributed across the network. Vertiv is the only provider with the necessary depth of experience in both communications and data centre infrastructure to deliver solutions for this aggregation layer. We are uniquely qualified to provide edge solutions, including fully equipped intelligent enclosures such as the SmartCabinet™. TowerXchange: With some out-of-the-box plans for tower power coming to the fore in Europe,

are you seeing your customers’ power needs changing and if so, how? Christopher Williams, Vice President ofCommunication Networks EMEA, Vertiv: The needs aren’t necessarily changing, but the industry’s ability to meet those needs is improving. The biggest changes relate to system intelligence and flexibility. We can monitor and manage tower sites better than ever, tracking multi-tenant power use to enable accurate billing. Alternative energy sources are popular in other parts of the world, and their use will continue to grow in Europe. That includes solar and wind power as well as hydrogen fuel cells. We’re also monitoring the growth of alternative battery technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, that can reduce footprint and increase battery lifespan. We’re using lithium-ion more and more in data centres, where space is at a premium, and the same advantages are appealing at tower sites

As tower companies move from single-operator tenancy to multi-tenant business models after acquiring towers from an operator, moving from flat-rate costs for things like power to pay-for-use models becomes a priority

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Save the date: TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2018 April 17-18 2018, Business Design Centre, London

Meet with over 250 leading towercos, joint venture infracos, MNOs, investors and advisors in the European tower industry for: < 45+ roundtable discussions < Special Middle East focus < MNO and CXO panels < Tower power report breakdown< Operational working groups< Matchmaking and introductions for investors and towercos< Women in Towers networking < Interviews and fireside chats with senior industry figures< The Future Network - dedicated small cells content < Networking drinks and dinner < Rising Stars workshops

To suggest content or be considered as a speaker or roundtable host, email Frances Rose, Head of Europe: [email protected]

To exhibit or BOOK NOW for 2017 prices by email TowerXchange CCO Annabelle Mayhew: [email protected]

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Our sponsorsoperationally as well as consolidate and integrate tower-related software technically. Fifteen of the towercos and infracos that TowerXchange tracks are current Siterra customers, spanning 15 countries and five continents. The first version of the Siterra site management platform was released in 2001. 100,000 users later, Siterra has become the industry standard, must-have operating software for tower companies today. Accruent works with its leading towerco customers to jointly develop new features that are deployed regularly through the SaaS platform to constantly improve customer value. Accruent has developed global process standards with local flexibility to pair with best-in-class software functionality. Accruent’s telecommunications division serves some of the world’s largest mobile network operators and service providers in addition to tower companies, helping link employees from different organizations in the industry to collaborate to projects. Accruent is the largest independent provider of commercial property management software, serving the telecom, retail, education, healthcare, and corporate markets with over 4,400 customers in 120 countries.

www.accruent.com

Bladon Jets

Bladon Jet’s breakthrough technologies enable the production of micro gas turbine engines which are more efficient, less polluting and lower cost than traditional reciprocating power units. Introducing the world’s first 12kW microturbine genset designed specifically for the telecom tower power market delivering reduced fuel and

Tarantula

Tarantula is a proven world leader in telecom site management software and the trusted partner of leading telecom infrastructure operators in 20 countries. The company is owned by Volaris Group, an operating group of Toronto-based software and services provider Constellation Software Inc. Through its specialised site management platform, Tarantula is a fundamental pillar of support behind the management of more than 350,000 mobile towers and assets worth US$25 billion around the world.

Red Cube is the industry standard for end-to-end tower lifecycle management. It is built around 30+ real-world, best practice towerco processes that have been brought to life through persona-based workflows, linking together towerco data such as assets, leases, processes, and financials into one central business model. This functionality is available straight out of the box, allowing companies to quickly deploy an optimised towerco business model.

www.tarantula.net

Siterra, An Accruent Product

Siterra, an Accruent Product, addresses the software needs of tower companies to sell co-locations, upgrade capacity, build-to-suit, maintain accurate asset registers, manage maintenance, and collaborate with vendors

Acsys Technologies Ltd

Acsys is a specialized towerco security and field service management software provider. Recognizing the telecom industry’s relentless drive to efficiency, we design solutions to accelerate you forward. Our software and mobile applications in combination with military-grade access control hardware form a 4 tiered tool for: Flexibility, Efficiency, Productivity, and Security.

Our solutions are designed to improve your site operations through the near elimination of theft, reduced inefficiencies, vendor and ticket auditing, and real-time remote control of field technicians. In the age of Big Data, Acsys gives you the intel you need to offer your tenants a better experience while reducing your OPEX.

Our expert team of mechatronic security, software development, and telecom professionals represent 14 nationalities and have combined their expertise to deploy the Acsys solutions in nearly 50 countries around the globe. Acsys is ISO 9001 certified and a preferred supplier of many of the biggest names in the telco industry.

Acsys – solutions built to improve your bottom line.

www.acsys.com

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MediPower

Since 2003, MediPower keeps the leading position as ESCO for the Italian telecom sector, providing energy to off-grid BTS for all the local MNOs (Vodafone, Wind, TIM, H3G).Operating in FULL OPEX model within an extremely challenging logistic and environmental scenario, the company holds a market share greater than 80%.

MediPower experience is replicable globally, relying on the “best-in-class” technology provided by Ausonia: AC & DC gensets, hybrid solutions, remote management and renewable sources integration.

For these reasons, MediPower represents the ideal energy partner to globally approach network implementation projects and/or operational optimization processes, in a cost effective way.

www.medipower.com/en/index.php

Vertiv

Vertiv designs, builds and services critical infrastructure that enables vital applications for communication networks as well as data centres and commercial and industrial facilities. Formerly Emerson Network Power, Vertiv supports today’s growing mobile and cloud computing markets with a portfolio of power, thermal and infrastructure management solutions including the ASCO®, Chloride®, Liebert®, NetSure™ and Trellis™ brands. Telecom and IT infrastructure solutions from Vertiv deliver purposefully designed and integrated hardware, software, and services that enable your network infrastructure to be as dynamic as

Cellnex Telecom

Cellnex is Europe’s leading independent operator of wireless telecommunications infrastructure, with a total portfolio of over 18,000 sites. From January to September 2016 Cellnex obtained revenues of € 520 million (+15%) and EBITDA of € 208 million (+18%). Cellnex is present in Italy, Spain, France, Holland and now the UK. Cellnex classifies its activities into three areas: Mobile telephony infrastructures; audiovisual broadcasting networks; and security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management

(smart cities and the “Internet of Things” (IoT)).

www.cellnextelecom.com/en/

Our sponsors & exhibitorsmaintenance costs, durability, and ultra-quiet operation for use in urban environments. Bladon’s revolutionary microturbine, heat exchanger and air bearing technologies harness the power of a miniature jet engine to provide a compact and ultra-reliable alternative to the traditional diesel generator. Use Bladon’s Micro Turbine Genset as a primary power source, hybrid mode with batteries or renewable energy sources, or as backup power to the grid.

www.bladonjets.com

Vinson & Elkins RLLP

Vinson & Elkins is one of the oldest and largest international law firms, with approximately 700 lawyers located in 16 offices around the world.

Our global telecommunications team has extensive experience advising on international telecoms and telecoms infrastructure M&A transactions, including in respect of towers, data centres, fibre, wireless and wireline technology. We have significant industry experience, advising on telecoms transactions in numerous countries, including across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East and our team is well recognised for such transactions worldwide. Our telecommunications advice includes acquisitions and disposals, debt and equity financing, infrastructure development, operational arrangements, regulatory matters and dispute resolution.

We also have significant experience in the negotiation and drafting of sale and purchase, debt and equity financing, master lease, build-to-suit, site management, site marketing and service level arrangements, fibre IRUs and other

complex commercial contracts.

www.velaw.com

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New Street Research

New Street Research is an independent research firm specializing in telecommunications equity and debt research. We apply an in-depth, fundamental approach to research that draws on decades of telecom, technology, and policy expertise. We strive to develop differentiated investment insights that impact institutional investors, company executives, and government policy-makers. Our team of 20 dedicated analysts based in New York, London, and Singapore, giving us a truly global and unique perspective on trends across the telecom landscape.

www.newstreetresearch.com

TowerXchange Meetup Europe Investors Club Sponsored by New Street Research

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Our exhibitors your business. Ranging from site planning to test and turn-up, our experience and dedicated approach to providing turnkey solutions will compliment your business investment. For more information, visit our website.

www.vertivco.com

Asentria

Asentria provides solutions for mobile network and tower operators to manage power, security, and environmental issues at remote cell sites from their network operations center. Telecom sites are evolving to include many new intelligent subsystem controllers for DC rectifiers, generators, cameras, access controllers, and HVAC. Asentria securely integrates these sub-systems into our hardware based site controller to present a single interface for management of power, security and environment at remote sites. Beyond simple alarming, Asentria generates data for comparative site analysis and provides remote access to the underlying systems for OPEX reducing cell site optimization.

www.asentria.com

Abloy Oy

ABLOY is one of the leading manufacturers of locks, locking systems and architectural hardware and the world’s leading developer of products in the field of electromechanical locking technology. We develop safe, aesthetic and easy-to-use locking solutions which satisfy the needs of end-users and our construction industry partners for security, safety and ease-of-access.

ABLOY protects people, property, and business operations on land, at sea, and in the air – in all circumstances. Solutions created for users’ individual need extend

from locking of homes to sites of operations requiring professionally provided high security.

Both the trust users place in us and our pioneering position are based on long-term endeavours – continuously developing new and innovative locking solutions and door-opening technologies that facilitate smooth entry and exit. The position of ABLOY as one of the four global brands of ASSA ABLOY Group supports our internationalization process and empowers us to strengthen our business in existing markets and to expand into new areas.

www.abloy.com

Beijing Dynamic Power Co., Ltd.

Beijing Dynamic Power Co., Ltd. (DPC) is a leading manufacturer of Telecom Power Supply in Beijing China. Established in 1995 who are the China first IPO (Initial Public Offerings) company in power supply industry in Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2004 Over 2,400,000 Rectifier modules operating on Carrier Networks globally and 30% market share in China owned by Carriers/China Tower(Ranking No.1 in China Tower). More than 20 years of experience in diversity power solutions for tower company. Over 3000 employees with the main production base of 330, 000m2, with production capacity of 80,000 pcs rectifiers and 15,000 sets systems per month. DPC’s stable high efficient and cost effective Power Supply create maximum value for carriers and tower company.

www.dpc.com.cn

HIMOINSA

HIMOINSA is a global corporation that designs, manufactures and distributes power generation

equipment worldwide. It has extensive experience in the telecommunications market, having supplied equipment with power outputs ranging from 8 to 45KVA in the international market to well-known companies in the sector.

Our telecom range gensets can work remotely, providing efficient and reliable power and incorporate functionalities such as: GPS system, making it possible to locate the machine at any time, fuel level alarm, remote management and remote control for gathering and recording data in real time. HIMOINSA has develops a variable speed hybrid generator sets that reduces fuel consumption by 40% and extend maintenance periods up to 1000 hours.

www.himoinsa.com

NorthStar Battery

NorthStar delivers reliable and sustainable power to the world, by designing and manufacturing high performance batteries and energy-saving battery cabinets. NorthStar products are built to provide longer battery life and reduced environmental impact.

The company has state-of-the-art facilities in the USA and Sweden, and their products are used in more than 150 countries worldwide. NorthStar can cut your operating costs with their long life products, high operating temperatures and efficient battery cooling.

The new NorthStar ACE™ is the future of energy storage management, an Internet of Things concept that allows you to monitor your batteries remotely using Bluetooth and the cloud.

www.northstarbattery.com

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Industry breakdown of a comparable tower industry Meetup

By invitation only: restricted to Director, VP and C-level attendees. Maximum of 2 delegate passes per company except for MNOs, towercos and sponsors

Independent towerco

MNOs

Investor

Managed services, tower & accessory supply

RMS and ILM

Small cells and DAS

Advisory firm: investment strategy legal

Energy equipment and services

Other

44%

9% 15%

5%

8%

5%5%

5%

3%

* Discounted rate available to Towercos, Government and Regulator representatives, 100% discount for qualifying Director - C-level execs from Operators

Roundtable host Panel moderator Technology Evaluation working groups

< TowerXchange Meetup Europe, April 17-18, 2018 < TowerXchange Meetup Americas, June 20-21, 2018


See you at our future events!


Meetup Africa2017

Meetup Asia 2017

Meetup Europe 2018


3-4 October, Johannesburg 12-13 December, Singapore

17-18 April, London 20-21 June, Florida

towerxchange meetup europe 2017 post event report · pdf filetowerxchange meetup europe 2017...

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