What happened this month in APAC towers? (July 2024 news update)

Welcome back to What happened this month in APAC towers! After a year's break, I've decided to relaunch this newsletter to bring you all the important updates and developments in the Asia and Oceania tower markets.

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Australia: Indara partners with Ventia to connect First Nation Community

Indara is partnering with one of the largest wireless carriers in Australia and Ventia, a critical infrastructure service provider to build a tower covering the First Nations community, Yarrabah.

The project has been planned for approximately five years and will deliver much-needed connectivity to the community. 43% of Australia’s First Nations communities have no mobile coverage, and Indara believes serving these markets is key to bridging Australia’s digital divide.

Construction and commissioning is expected to be complete by October 2024.

Australia: Telstra install hydrogen fuel cell in $740m pilot

An Energys Australia 10kW hydrogen generator has been installed at a Telstra Tower site as part of a pilot to test the technology for backup power generation.

The generator can provide backup power for up to 72 hours and offers a more sustainable solution to diesel gensets typically used for backup power in the absence of solar panels. Energys Australia said it is currently sourcing hydrogen for its generators from an undisclosed location in Victoria.

“The pilot will help us determine its (hydrogen generators) future role in the space,” said Telstra’s integrated network, facilities and environment executive Vicki Romanovski.

Bangladesh:  EDOTCO teams up with fibreco Bahon Limited

Axiata subsidiary EDOTCO has agreed a partnership with Bangladeshi Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) Bahon Limited.

The partnership is aimed at deploying next-generation telecom infrastructure, specifically designed to support 5G rollout. While the announcement didn’t go into many details on the specifics of the project, based on both company's expertise it is likely to involve fibrising EDOTCO’s tower network. Fibre to the tower is an essential component of 5G network rollouts, and EDOTCO said the agreement would transform the telecom landscape, ensuring that the country is poised to embrace next-generation digital connectivity infrastructures.

India: Vodafone Idea taps SAR Televentures for 5,000 4G small cells

SAR Televenture has signed a deal with Vodafone Idea to install additional 4G small cell sites into the MNO's Indian network. In a recent regulatory filing, Vodafone Idea outlined plans to add 26,000 new 4G and 22,000 new 5G sites in the next two years.

A relative newcomer in India’s telecom tower sector, SAR intends to invest $5 million to construct 1,000 new macro sites in India, although founder Rahul Sahdev said he sees great potential in microsites such as small cells. Even with one tenancy, he said the lower capex requirements mean infrastructure owners can start to see an ROI in just two years.

India: Bulk of Indus Tower’s new sites in FY24 are in rural locations

Indus Towers has revealed that 60% of the new towers it added in its 2023-2024 financial year were in rural locations. It recorded 219,736 sites at the end of June (the end of its 2024 financial year), up from 192,874 in June 2023.

Tenancies increased from 342,831 to 368,588 over the same period. In addition, the company claim that 100% of its rural sites in Rajasthan are powered by solar energy and that it solarised 14,000 towers in the year.

India: DoT publishes draft right-of-way rules for consultation

Reform to India’s Right of Way (RoW) rules have been proposed after its much-scrutinised Telecoms Act came into law in June. The draft rules have been built on the framework outlined in the parent act.

Notably, they allow for any facility provider to apply for RoW, whereas before, this was only allowed by a licence holder. In theory, this should reduce the administrative burden on securing the right permits to deploy infrastructure.

The rules explore the impact on private and public property for common ducts, conduits and cable corridors. Government officers will have the right to overturn objections to installation on public property if it is deemed of public interest. In another major change, clear guidelines for compensation of infrastructure deployed on private property have been outlined, as have rules for the removal of or interference to telecom infrastructure, which requires the operator to be informed.

The full set of proposed rules can be found here

Indonesia: BAKTI to build 630 new towers in rural areas

Indonesia’s Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI), plans to deploy an additional 630 new cell sites by the end of the year. The agency plans to collaborate with the military and police to ensure the smooth deployment of the sites.

"The security and geographic conditions in eastern Indonesia, particularly Papua, are the main challenges in completing this infrastructure work,"  acting director of Indonesia’s telecommunications and information service, Yulis Widyo Marfiah said earlier this month.

Indonesia: Telkomsel sells 850 IBS sites to host, leases back 689

Neutral host provider dhost has acquired 850 in-building solutions (IBS) sites from Telkomsel and will lease 689 back to the Indonesian operator in a deal worth just over $42 million.

dhost is currently headquartered in Singapore with a presence in Japan, and a “strong presence” in Indonesia according to its LinkedIn page.

The latest deal comes off a 2023 agreement to acquire 633 indoor DAS sites from another Indonesian mobile operator, Indosat Orredoo Hutchinson (IOH) for $117.8 million.

Japan: JTower and KDDI to commence joint study on the future of Japan’s telecom infrastructure

Japan’s only towerco, JTower, and mobile operator KDDI have agreed a new research partnership to explore the implication of Japan’s declining population on its telecom infrastructure.

JTower says much of Japan’s social infrastructure was developed during its high-growth period, and the ageing of those assets is getting to be more serious as maintenance costs are expected to become a major problem.

Japan has significant parallel infrastructure, and KDDI and JTower will study the consolidation of telecommunications towers through tower sharing, something that up until now MNO’s in Japan have been very much against.

Measures will also be considered to replace KDDI’s indoor facilities which need to be upgraded using JTOWER’s indoor Infra-Sharing facilities.

Malaysia: Umobile signs MoUs with towercos in bid to build Malaysia’s next 5G network

Malaysian telecom operator Umobile has signed multiple agreements with towercos in the country in a bid to build Malaysia’s second 5G network, including BullishAim, EdgePoint Infrastructure, Naza Communications and OCK Group.

It says the agreements come in a move to expand 5G infrastructure and be at the forefront of the rollout of the second 5G network in the country.

The agreements signed by Umobile follow a similar agreement with EDOTCO, signed last month.

Myanmar: Axiata boss says Myanmar operation was harming the prospects of an EDOTCO sale

In an interview with The Edge Malaysia, Axiata CEO Vivek Sood said while there has been a lot of investor interest in EDOTCO, the valuations have not been in line with what the company would have expected.

Sood said that country-specific challenges had been dragging down the valuation and that the political instability Myanmar was one of those concerns.

Back in April EDOTCO agreed the sale of its Myanmar operation, likely at a loss from its initial investment in 2015.

Sources told me back then that the buyer was former investor Yoma Strategic Holdings, but this has not yet been confirmed by either party.

Sood told the Edge that deal was progressing well. “It’s just waiting now for regulatory approval,” he said.

Philippines: Globe transfers final 1,037 towers to Frontier Tower Associates from 2022 deal

Globe Group has raised $230 million from the close of 1,037 towers it agreed to sell to Frontier Tower Associates in 2022. The deal marked Globe’s first sale and leaseback transaction and saw it agree to sell 5,709 towers to Frontier and MIDC for US$1.2 billion.

MIDC has received 62% of the agreed 2,180-tower portfolio it bought, with the most recent close occurring in March 2023.

Sri Lanka: TRC publishes bidding criteria for telecom tower licenses

Following news back in May that Sri Lanka’s telecom regulator planned to open up the industry to allow third parties to build, operate and own macro towers, bidding criteria have been revealed by the TRC.    

A scoring system has been put in place to ensure an applicant’s ability to provide the necessary technical, financial, sales & marketing, customer service & protection, and organisational and managerial aspects required to provide the services.

A minimum score of 70% is required across the board, with specific targets for each aspect.

Entities awarded a licence are required to pay a fee of 10,000,000 Sri Lankan Rupees (US$33,143) for a five-year term unless they are a public utility provider, in which case they pay 100,000 Rupees.

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