Tower
Xchange
< Vodacom and Etisalat’s tower strategy
< MTN’s tower strategy in Rwanda and Zambia
< Tanzania case study with exclusive HTA interview
The journal for the emerging market telecom tower industry
< TowerCo of Madagascar, FTS and Eaton interviews
ISSUE 5 | September 2013 | www.towerxchange.com
Let’s meet up!
Top 200 decision makers in African Towers converge at TowerXchange Meetup
TowerXchange forecasts the growth of African towercos from 23k towers today to 54k by the end of 2014
Tower
Xchange
With special thanks to the TowerXchange “Inner Circle”
Our informal network of advisers:
About TowerXchange
Chuck Green
CEO
Helios Towers Africa
Alan Harper
CEO
Eaton Towers
Daniel Lee
Managing Director
Intrepid Advisory Partners
Michel Faivre
Directeur Programme Partage
d’Infrastructure AMEA
France Telecom-Orange
Riana Donaldson
Manager: International Network
Operations Support
Vodacom
Adeel Bajwa
Senior GM of Legal Affairs and
Contracts
Warid Telecom
Fazal Hussain
CEO
SWAP International
Laurentius Human
CEO
Inala
Inder Bajaj
CEO
Helios Towers Nigeria
Nina Triantis
Managing Director, Global
Head of Telecoms & Media
Standard Bank
Andrew Doyle
Managing Director
Tech & Comms Practice
Mott MacDonald
Chris Gabriel
former CEO, Zain Africa
Senior Adviser, Macquarie Group
Chairman, Clean Power Systems
Jeffrey Eldredge
Partner
Vinson & Elkins
Natasha Good
Partner
Freshfields
Areef Kassam
Director of Infrastructure
GSMA Mobile for Development
Ayman Al Adl
Associate Director – TMT
Standard Chartered Bank
Ahjeeth JaiJai
Consultant
Investec
Tunde Titilayo
Vice Chairman
SWAP International
Torsten Esbjørn
Regional Director, Africa
Ramboll
Rajat Malhotra
CEO, Middle East & Africa
Hayat Communications
Zouhair Khaliq
Consultant, Executive Director
Warid Telecom, Former CEO,
Orascom Int’l Investment
Gary Staunton
CEO
Likusasa Group
2
David Meganck
Founder & COO
Acsys
| TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange is your independent community
for operators, towercos, investors and
suppliers interested in African towers. We’re a
community of practitioners formed to promote
and accelerate infrastructure sharing in
Africa. TowerXchange don’t build, operate or
invest in towers; we’re a neutral community
host and commentator on African telecoms
infrastructure.
The TowerXchange Journal is free to qualifying
recipients. We also provide webinars and
regular meetups. TowerXchange monetizes
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
organizer with 16 years’ experience, and is
governed with the support and advice of the
TowerXchange “Inner Circle” – an informal
network of advisors
© 2013 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.
www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com || TowerXchange
TowerXchangeMeetup
Issue 5 |
9
XX
Contents
40
Tanzania
case study
41 Infrastructure sharing in Tanzania
43 HTA to acquire 1,149 towers from Vodacom
46 A view of Tanzania from the front lines at NEWL
70
RMS and site management,
part four
116
Energy storage
tradeoffs
117 Could vanadium redox be a game changer?
54 Case study: TowerCo of Madagascar
124 GE’s unique energy storage innovation
59 FTS: how to manage towers in high risk markets
130 Li-ion technology telecom backup power
64 The future of South Africa’s telecom towers
134
Rooftops, masts
and towers
71 azeti add intelligence to BTS site management
135 Designing & strengthening towers for multiple tenants
77 Tarantula on how to measure and maximise TCF
139 Geostrut’s carbon fibre towers
82 HMS: If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it
143 Bridging the digital divide in Ghana
3
| TowerXchange Issue 2 | www.towerxchange.com
52
Towerco
perspectives
5 Tower counts & transaction history
8 The future of the African tower industry
19 BMI: MTN’s tower strategy in Rwanda and Zambia
24 Mott MacDonald Share Square: Senegal
26 Cover story: Vodacom and Etisalat’s tower strategy
87 TowerPower: profiles of Emerson Network Power,
Ballard, UGE, Flexenclosure, Enatel and DAQS
146 Who’s who in tower design, manufacture, installation
and manages services
151 Beyond passive infrastructure: data centres
154 HS&S: cell site security and access control
Departments
13 News
17 Tower People
30 TowerXchange Meetup
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
3
Africa’s leading,
independent,
telecom tower
company
HTA acquires, builds and manages wireless
telecom infrastructure, leasing it to mobile
network operators across Ghana, Tanzania
and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
HTA’s model of shared telecoms infrastructure,
and its scale, helps to deliver improved
efficiency and network quality and reliability
for operators, reduced costs for users and
increased accessibility.
Find out more about our business
www.heliostowersafrica.com
Updated independent tower
counts and transaction
history for Africa
Count differentiating towers that are
owned from those that are managed and
marketed by towercos
10000
8000
Estimated number of towers owned or managed by towercos in Africa
Source: TowerXchange research, quarterly filings, site lists
Eaton Towers
750
750
700 700
2449
1000
6000
Uganda
1120
Tanzania
South Africa
751
4000
Nigeria
Ghana
100
DRC
SWAP Technologies
700 509
4750
Sudan & S Sudan
Cote d’lvoire
250
4851
4700
2000
3500
Cameroon
1300
Kenya
8,250
MTN, Orange
Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon,
Sudan, South Sudan
American
4,851
Cell C, MTN
Ghana, South Africa, Uganda
Helios
4,700
2,500
Millicom, Vodacom
Tanzania, Ghana, DRC
Eaton
Vodafone, Orange, Warid
Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa
SWAP
1,459
Starcomms
Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire
Helios TN
1,300
Multi-Links
Nigeria
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
0
fri
ca
IHS Africa
1300
SA
10000
IH
8000
He
Af lios T
ric
a owe
rs
6000
To
we
r
4000
eri
can
2000
759
Am
Helios Towers Nigeria
1700
800
700
S
no WA
log P
ies
Helios Towers Africa
1800
Unknown Country
720
Te
ch
1931
3400
To
we
rs
American Tower
2230
Ea
ton
1900
He
Ni lios T
ger
ia ower
s
IHS Africa
Filled bars = Owned Towers
Unfilled bars = Managed and marketed towers
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
5
Africa’s biggest infrastructure sharing transactions to date
Year
Operator
Country
TowerCo
Est. # of towers
Publicly stated
purchase price
Deal structure
2010
Millicom / Tigo
Ghana
Helios
750
$54m for 60%
Joint venture
2010
Vodafone
Ghana
Eaton
750
Not applicable
Operational lease
2010
Cell C
South Africa
American
1,400*
$430m
Sale and leaseback
2010
MTN
Ghana
American
1,876
$218.5m for 51%
Joint venture
2010
Starcomms
Nigeria
SWAP
407
$81m
Sale and leaseback
2010
Millicom / Tigo
DRC
Helios
729
$45m for 60%
Joint venture
2011
Millicom / Tigo
Tanzania
Helios
1,020
$80m for 60%**
Joint venture
2011
MTN
Uganda
American
1,000
$89m for 51%
Joint venture
2012
Orange
Uganda
Eaton
300
Unknown
Sale and leaseback
2012
Warid
Uganda
Eaton
400
Unknown
Sale and leaseback
2012
MTN
Cameroon
IHS Africa
827
$143m
Sale and leaseback
2012
MTN
Cote d’Ivoire
IHS Africa
931
$141m
Sale and leaseback
2013
Orange
Cameroon & Cote d’Ivoire
IHS Africa
2,000+
Unknown
Managed services
2013
Orange/Telkom Kenya
Kenya
Eaton
1,000+
Unknown
Managed services
2013
Vodacom
Tanzania
Helios
1,149
“$50-75m for 75.5%”
Joint venture
*Cell C deal included 1,400 existing towers plus additional towers under construction
**Millicom/Tigo’s stake in Helios Towers Tanzania reduced to 24.5% after Helios acquired towers from Vodacom Tanzania in 2013
6
How TowerXchange tower counts are calculated
Our tower counts are typically obtained by simply asking the CEO of each towerco to
confirm how many sites they own and manage and market in each country.
A note on power pass through contracts
One of the most common questions posed to TowerXchange is whether the cost of
power is passed through to the tenant in Africa, a model which is prevalent in India.
However, these counts should be considered our best estimate as it is impossible to
guarantee each towerco has complied exactly with our request to include only active
sites, not contracted further BTS sites, and complied with our request that sites that
are only managed, not managed and marketing, be excluded from the count.
In the absence of a power pass through, towercos are incentivised to invest to
reduce energy opex. While we've received no formal confirmations, TowerXchange
understands all the tower deals in Africa do NOT pass through power to the tenant, with
the possible exception of American Tower's deals in Ghana and Uganda with MTN.
| TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
The future of the African
tower industry
TowerXchange forecasts that independent towercos will own or
manage and market 30% of Africa’s towers by the end of 2014
Towercos worldwide have been proved more
efficient at managing towers than telecom
operators. The capital markets recognise
this, rewarding the split between passive
infrastructure and the retail risk of customerfacing telecoms by increasing valuations of
separated entities.
towers, but we respect the confidentiality of
tower transactions, so we can only forecast in
which markets we think tower transactions may
take place, we can’t tell you which operator’s
towers will come to market.
The current state of the African tower
industry - the “proof of concept” phase
Regular TowerXchange readers will recognise
this graphic on the next page from our last
edition: this is our view of the current state of
the African tower industry. See issue four of
TowerXchange for our detailed commentary on
the current state of the African tower industry.
Updates since issue four:
So as the independent towerco business
model becomes more proven in Africa, more
towers come to market, more capital is raised
by towercos, and the pace of transactions
accelerates. We think the future of the African
tower industry is all about the transfer of towers
from operator-captive to independent towercos
- it’s a question of when, not if, in the majority of
African markets.
Kieron Osmotherly, TowerXchange Founder
As African telecom markets liberalise and
mature, towers cease to be a source of
competitive differentiation. There is a valuation
incentive for operators first to market to sell
their towers.
8
| TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
So in this edition I thought I’d share a sneak
preview of my opening address at the
TowerXchange Meetup - our vision of the future
of African towers. This analysis comes with the
usual TowerXchange caveats - this forecast is our
“best guess”. We’re qualitative not quantitative
market researchers - we spend hours every day
talking to key stakeholders in emerging market
< Announcement of a second transaction in
Tanzania (Vodacom selling 1,149 towers to
Helios Towers Africa)
< A small deal potentially imminent in Burundi
(see the FTS interview in this edition)
< Hints at potential deals in the medium-term
in Mauritius and Chad (see the news section)
TowerXchange’s tower count (see page 5 of
this edition) suggests there are currently 2223,000 towers owned or managed and marketed
by independent towercos in Africa. The total
number of towers in Africa is tough to quantify,
but for the purpose of this analysis we’ll use an
estimate of 150,000, which would mean towercos
own or manage and market approximately 15%
of Africa’s towers.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange tower transaction heatmap - current state
Index of countries
Algeria
Malawi
Angola
Mali
Benin
Mauritania
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon 2
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo Brazzaville
1
2
3
4
5
6
Mauritius
Mayotte
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria 2
Rwanda
Réunion
Cote d’Ivoire 2
Senegal
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Seychelles
Djibouti
Sierra Leone
Egypt
Somalia
Equatorial Guinea
South Africa
Eritrea
South Sudan
Ethiopia
Sudan
on at least one towerco’s hit list, or there is a
Gabon
Swaziland
registered Africa Towers subsidiary in the country
Gambia
São Tomé and Prí­ncipe
Rumours of a potential tower transaction have
Ghana 3
Tanzania 2
been confirmed by TowerXchange
Guinea
Togo
Tower transaction believed to be imminent
Guinea-Bissau
Tunisia
One or more tower transactions have taken place,
Kenya
Uganda 2
no more transactions expected imminently
Lesotho
Western Sahara
Liberia
Zambia
Libya
Zimbabwe
Legend
No tower transaction completed or rumoured
Either rumours of a tower transaction
(unconfirmed), or the country is known to be
One or more tower transactions have taken place,
more transactions are expected imminently
Number of tower deals in this market if more
than one
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Source: TowerXchange
Madagascar
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
9
How this map could look by the
end of 2014 - the “acceleration”
phase
TowerXchange forecasts ten further tower
transactions (either full sale and leaseback or
supped-up managed services deals with BTS
programmes) in Africa before the end of 2014.
In addition, we expect the maturation of Airtel’s
formative Africa Towers strategy, bringing to
market an estimated 18,000 towers across their
17 countries.
I will present a detailed breakdown of this
forecast at the TowerXchange Meetup, but it is
summarised with our graphic on the next page
showing of how we expect the TowerXchange
tower transaction heat map to look by the end of
2014.
TowerXchange expects the number of towers
owned, or at least managed and marketed, by
independent towercos to increase by more than
30,000 by the end of 2014. Such a volume of
transactions which will test the capital raising
and management resources of Africa’s ‘Big Four’
towercos to the limit. As a result, we expect at
least one more international towerco to enter the
African market during the coming year.
Assuming the total number of towers in Africa
increases to 175,000, towercos would own or
manage and market over 30% of Africa’s towers
by the end of 2014.
10 | TowerXchange Issue 4 | www.towerxchange.com
2015-16: the “scale and
consolidation phase”
When will the African towercos run out of capital?
Africa’s PE-backed towercos are going to need
to substantially refinance if they are to have
the digestive capacity to absorb all the towers
coming to market, particularly if highly attractive,
large portfolios in Nigeria become available. IHS
announced their impressive raising of US$1bn of
capital to date (see News), but a sizable transaction
in Nigeria could cost that much alone, never mind
the additional capex to upgrade structures and
power solutions.
American Tower are currently in a category of
one with the strength of their balance sheet, and
TowerXchange forecasts ATC will close several
transactions in Africa in the next 18-24 months.
But American Tower has appetite for only so much
country risk, and Africa has to compete for ATC’s
investments with opportunities in their domestic
market as well as in the Americas and Europe.
If African towercos scale to portfolios of 10,000+
towers, and if they continue to trade in line with
their acquisition economics, then institutional
investors and infrastructure funds may enter the
market and we may see a phase of consolidation
starting in 2015-16.
Trying to forecast how the heatmap might look two
to three years from now would be a futile endeavor
- there are too many variables. Consolidation among
operators could change the landscape dramatically.
Towercos ability to raise the necessary capital is
subject to the prevailing economic conditions. There
seems to be a pool of investors who are comfortable
investing in the American and European tower
industry, and another pool comfortable investing
in Africa, and relatively few investors at the
intersection - as a community, we need to evangelise
the African tower industry and attract more
investors to the market.
More expertise is needed - there are only so many
“tower people” and only so many people with
proven African telecoms management experience
and again the intersection of the two groups is a
shallow pool that needs to deepen if the acceleration
in growth of the tower industry is to proceed along
the lines we have forecast.
When TowerXchange started our research 18
months ago, we spoke to a lot of senior decision
makers at operators who were skeptical of the value
proposition of selling their towers to independent
towercos. But today every one of Africa’s tier one
MNOs has structured deals with towercos or are
seeking to do so. The African tower industry has
reached “launch velocity” - it has an unstoppable
momentum - and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading
our view of how far the African tower industry can
progress in the coming years.
Kieron Osmotherly will present TowerXchange’s
detailed forecast for the next 2-3 years of the
African tower industry at the TowerXchange
Meetup on October 1 and 2. For details, visit
www.towerxcahnge.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 4 |
XX
How TowerXchange forecasts the tower transaction heatmap to look by the end of 2014
Index of countries
Algeria
Malawi
Angola
Mali
Benin
Mauritania
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon 2
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo Brazzaville
1
2
3
4
5
6
Mauritius
Mayotte
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria 3
Rwanda 2
Réunion
Cote d’Ivoire 2
Senegal
Democratic Republic of the Congo 2
Seychelles
Djibouti
Sierra Leone
Egypt
Somalia
Equatorial Guinea
South Africa 2
Eritrea
South Sudan
Ethiopia
Sudan
on at least one towerco’s hit list, or there is a
Gabon
Swaziland
registered Africa Towers subsidiary in the country
Gambia
São Tomé and Prí­ncipe
Rumours of a potential tower transaction have
Ghana 3
Tanzania 3
been confirmed by TowerXchange
Guinea
Togo
Tower transaction believed to be imminent
Guinea-Bissau
Tunisia
One or more tower transactions have taken place,
Kenya 2
Uganda 3
no more transactions expected imminently
Lesotho
Western Sahara
Liberia
Zambia
Libya
Zimbabwe
Legend
No tower transaction completed or rumoured
Either rumours of a tower transaction
(unconfirmed), or the country is known to be
One or more tower transactions have taken place,
more transactions are expected imminently
Number of tower deals in this market if more
than one
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Source: TowerXchange
Madagascar
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
11
IHS surpasses US$1 billion
capital raised in the past 12 months
sovereign wealth funds to IHS’ already strong
shareholder base. The capital raise marks the
second time this year that an international fund has
made its first investment into Africa through IHS
and highlights the strength of IHS’ platform and the
global attractiveness of market leaders in Africa.
The other first-time African investor, Wendel,
one of Europe’s leading investors, completed an
investment into the company earlier in the year and
participated in the round.
Issam Darwish, CEO, IHS Africa
IHS Towers, Africa’s largest independent mobile
infrastructure company, has secured US$522 million
of debt and equity, led by new and existing lenders
and shareholders. The combined transaction, which
represents one of the largest capital expansion
initiatives in Africa during the last 12 months,
brings the total financing raised by IHS Towers to
over US$1 billion.
The transaction also marks another significant
milestone with the addition of one of Asia’s premier
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
IHS will draw significant benefits from its
newest shareholder by having direct access to
additional financial and intellectual resources.
The partnership will further support IHS’ success
in Africa while continuing to provide a strong
investment platform for new and existing investors,
that also reconfirmed their support in IHS by
participating in the round.
IHS will utilise the proceeds to finance the
construction of more than 1,000 build-to-suit (BTS)
towers in Nigeria, Cóte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, to
invest in solar and energy efficiency solutions, and
to fund further expansion into new markets.
Issam Darwish, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, IHS Towers, said “We welcome our newest
shareholder and we are proud to have their vote of
confidence in the IHS vision and management. We
are also very excited that our existing shareholders
have further increased their investments in the
company. IHS has established itself as Africa’s
leader in the mobile tower sector. Raising over
US$1 billion in 12 months is a clear sign of a strong
business model and a vote of confidence from new
and existing shareholders in the future growth of
mobile telecoms in Africa. We are now uniquely
positioned to expand into new markets whilst
supporting our current operations in Nigeria,
Cameroon and Cóte d’Ivoire. Over the last two years
we have tripled our towers under management
across Africa to 8,500. This new financing round is
critical to our aim to increase the portfolio to 20,000
towers under management, and will underpin our
value creation strategy in the years to come”
Transaction details:
New debt: US$280 million new debt finance
led by the World Bank’s International Finance
Corporation (IFC)
New equity: US$100 million from new investors
and US$142 million from existing investors
IHS Towers currently has 8,500 towers in its tower
portfolio and has built over 3,000 for its clients,
making it Africa’s largest independent mobile
infrastructure provider. In Q1 2013, IHS signed
an agreement with Orange in Cameroon and Cóte
d’Ivoire to manage over 2,000 sites for a term of
15 years. This adds to the 1,758 towers that IHS
bought from MTN Group in October 2012
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
13
American Tower acquires 5,400 towers
in US plus 500 in Costa Rica from GTP
for US$4.8bn
American Tower has acquired the majority of assets
from the largest privately owned tower operator in the
US, GTP.
new macro sites and thus drives co-location revenues.
Applications for tenancies on American Tower’s own
sites have been at record levels in 2013.
American Tower’s latest acquisition has secured
high quality assets with strong existing cash flows
and significant opportunity for future growth. The
tenancy ratio on GTP’s domestic portfolio is believed
to be around 2, while American Tower’s is 2.6, with
the difference attributable to the younger age of GTP’s
assets. GTP’s towers typically have capacity for four
tenants without the need for upgrade investment.
Implications for emerging market towers
While benchmarks are not readily transferrable from
the domestic US market to less mature and more
operationally complex emerging markets, this deal
illustrates what emerging market tower portfolios
have to compete with to attract investment from
international towercos.
This acquisition extends American Tower’s runway for
growth in their domestic market. With an acquisition
of 5,400 towers, many in top metropolitan markets,
plus 9,000 domestic managed sites (primarily rooftops),
and with 70% of GTP’s revenue coming from the ‘Big
Four’ carriers, American Tower has strengthened their
hand to secure business as 4G deployment shifts into a
higher gear.
4G growth
American Tower Chairman, President and CEO Jim
Tailcet characterises 4G deployment as an 8-10 year
process in which various carriers are between years 1
and 3. Phase one, according to Taiclet, is characterised
by substantial amendment revenue as carriers add
additional equipment to existing sites. Phase two,
which some US carriers are entering, tends to require
14 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
While this transaction temporarily brings American
Tower’s leverage up to 5.8, above their target range
of 3-5%, they have expressed intent to bring that back
down to within the target range in the short term, and
the company expressed an appetite to continue to seek
acquisition opportunities. American Tower has been
linked with opportunities to acquire towers from MTN
in South Africa, Rwanda and Zambia in recent months.
The GTP deal illustrates the strength of American
Tower’s balance sheet and access to capital markets,
with the US$4.8bn purchase price (subject to some post
closing adjustments, and inclusive of the assumption
of about US$1.5bn of existing GTP debt) funded largely
through the company’s current liquidity of over $3.2bn
and their existing capacity under their revolvers.
Etisalat hires Deutsche Bank
to sell subsidiary Zantel’s
towers in Tanzania - Reports
TMT Finance broke a story that Etisalat had
hired Deutsche Bank to lead the sale and
outsourcing of Tanzanian subsidiary Zantel’s
tower portfolio, which comprises 711 towers
located primarily in Zanzibar.
Multiple sources in Tanzania suggest Zantel’s
towers are on the market, and the regional
nature of the Tanzanian tower network
suggests there may still be a healthy market
for Zantel’s sites, despite previous transactions
in the country, Helios having acquired over
2,400 towers from Millicom-Tigo and Vodacom.
TowerXchange spoke to executives at Deutsche
Bank and Etisalat who neither confirmed
nor denied the report. Etisalat are known to
favour the appointment of third party advisors
to advise on the sale towers, and they have
worked with Deutsche Bank previously to
advise on a strategic review of its African
Atlantique portfolio.
Etisalat are coming to the African tower
market late after an abortive attempt to
structure a pan-African deal last year. Etisalat
now prefers a country by country approach,
empowering local their local opcos to lead the
process
The deal is expected to close in Q4 2013
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
American Tower acquires 2,790 towers
in Brazil and 1,666 towers in Mexico
Earlier this Summer, American Tower announced
that it had reached an agreement with NII Holdings,
Inc. to acquire up to 2,790 towers in Brazil and
1,666 towers in Mexico in two separate transactions,
for approximately $413 million and $398 million,
respectively, based on current foreign currency
exchange rates. American Tower expects to use cash
on hand and borrowings under its existing revolving
credit facilities to fund the acquisition.
The majority of the portfolio consists of towers
located in and around major population areas and
along major highways. On average, the towers have
a tenancy ratio of just over one tenant per tower,
providing significant opportunities for future site
leasing growth. Nextel Brazil and Nextel Mexico
have agreed to leaseback the towers from American
Tower for a minimum 12-year initial lease term with
additional renewal options thereafter.
Jim Taiclet, Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer of American Tower, said: “Through this
acquisition, American Tower will gain significant
incremental scale in our Mexican and Brazilian
operations, and we anticipate leveraging the
strong demand backdrop in both markets to drive
meaningful revenue and cash flow growth for many
years to come.”
“We are excited to reach agreement with American
Tower and achieve our goal of unlocking the value
of a significant portion of our tower assets while
raising additional liquidity,” said Steve Shindler, chief
executive officer of NII Holdings.
The transactions are subject to regulatory approvals
and the initial closing under each transaction is
expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of
2013. These initial closings are expected to be followed
by subsequent closings of additional tranches of
towers as certain closing requirements relating to the
remaining tranches are satisfied
Participate in the
TowerXchange
community
Tower
manufacture
& installation
Investors &
advisers
Tower
Independent
towercos
Xchange
Decision
makers
at
operators
Regulators
& policy
makers
Equipment
& managed
services
Millicom and Orange re-engaging in African tower deals?
TMT Finance also quote anonymous sources suggested Millicom is considering spinning off towers in
Senegal, Rwanda, Mauritius and Chad. The source suggested Helios Towers Africa have an exclusivity
agreement in place with Millicom which would put them in pole position to acquire the towers.
Join the TowerXchange LinkedIn™ group at
www.linkedin.com/groups/
TowerXchange-4536974
TMT Finance quote anonymous sources suggesting Millicom is considering spinning off towers in Egypt as
well as in several West African countries
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
15
Tower People
Rare opportunity for an
experienced procurement
professional to join a
fast-growing, successful
tower company.
Salary to £110k
+ excellent benefits package
Central London
Our client is a rapidly expanding Towers Company with
more than 1,500 sites across the African subcontinent. The
position is for a Group Director of Procurement with
responsibility for a current annual spend of £70-£80
million. We’re looking for someone with a background in
improving profitability and lowering purchase costs
through strategic procurement solutions and contract
negotiation. You should have first-rate procurement
experience within the African Towers market.
Please send your resume to
[email protected]
New CEO for Airtel Africa
Christian de Faria will replace Manoj Kohli as CEO
of Bharti Airtel’s African operation, effective from
January 1, 2014. De Faria was formerly Group Chief
Commercial Officer at MTN. The well travelled new
CEO has over 30 years experience in leadership roles
at telcos worldwide.
Kohli returns to India to head up International
operations and advise on M&A and tower
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
strategy. The moves come at an interesting time as
Airtel’s Africa Towers starts the separation of the
infrastructure part of the Group’s African footprint
Cell C’s Pasley moves into the CFO’s office
Chief Strategy Officer Robert Pasley will now be
even more involved in tower strategy as he has also
assumed the role of CFO for the fast-growing South
African operator
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
17
TowerXchange appoints Arianna Neri as
Head of Americas
As TowerXchange extends our footprint beyond Africa
and into South and Central America, Arianna Neri
joins TowerXchange on October 1 as our new Head of
Americas.
Arianna will be building relationships with key tower
industry stakeholders in the Americas, preparing the
programme for our TowerXchange Meetup Americas
2014, and commencing coverage of the region in future
editions of the TowerXchange Journal.
Arianna is crossing over to telecoms from previous
roles hosting communities and events for oil and gas
infrastructure, where she has spent over four years
working for Clarion Events and Jacob Fleming. Arianna
has a degree in law from Universitá di Bologna, and
she speaks Italian, English and Spanish
18 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Are you looking for a new member of staff with relevant
experience in the emerging market telecom tower industry?
Get your job noticed by the best potential candidates by advertising in
TowerXchange journal and on our website and reach out to over 2,700 of the most
skilled individuals in the tower industry - TowerXchange is read by CEOs, CTOs,
CFOs, commercial, engineering, operations and investment experts.
To see your advert here, contact Annabelle Mayhew on +44 (0)7423 512588 or
email [email protected]
Tower
Xchange
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
MTN’s tower strategy
could open up Rwanda
and Zambia
Guest columnist Kenechi Okeleke of BMI shares his view
of potential MTN tower transactions
Kenechi Okeleke, Senior Analyst, BMI
Keywords: BMI Analysis,
Research, Market Forecasts,
MNOs, Towercos Acquisition,
Market Overview, 4G, Universal
Access, Infrastructure Sharing,
Africa, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria,
South Africa, Helios Towers
Africa, IHS, American Tower,
Airtel, Africa Towers, MTN, BMI
Read this article to learn:
< Reviewing MTN’s tower strategy in South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana
and Uganda
< Macroeconomic indicators and telecom market dynamics that suggest Rwanda and Zambia
would be strong growth markets for towercos
< Pros and cons in Rwanda: price competition and low ARPUs, slow subscriber penetration growth,
mandated rural network extensions and a nationwide LTE network announced
< Zambian initiatives to encourage network infrastructure development in underserved areas,
including the UAP
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
BMI view
South Africa and Nigeria are MTN’s biggest
markets by a wide margin, in terms of both
revenue and subscriptions. For the six months
ended June 2013, the countries accounted for 65%
of MTN’s consolidated revenue and 40% of its
total subscriber base. These factors, along with
other market dynamics, including the presence
of multiple international players and the volume
of economic activity, make MTN’s tower assets
in South Africa and Nigeria the most attractive
for investors. However, it appears the operator is
biding its time in making a move to outsource its
tower infrastructure in both markets. This shifts
attention to MTN’s remaining ten markets in
Africa. Of these markets, BMI believes Rwanda and
Zambia will appeal most to investors.
MTN’s tower deals in Cameroon and Cóte d’Ivoire
underscore the company’s inclination towards
tower outsourcing, where possible, across its
African subsidiaries. Prior to the deal with IHS
Towers in October 2012, MTN had executed
tower sale and leaseback deals with American
Tower Corp. (ATC) in Ghana in December 2010
and in Uganda a year later. MTN has expressed
satisfaction with the positive effect of its tower
deals on the bottom line performance of its
units in the four countries. This will encourage
the operator to implement a similar strategy in
the other countries it is present in the region,
creating significant growth opportunities for tower
investors in those markets.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
19
Rwanda And Zambia are good bets
As investors wait for MTN’s move in its prime
markets, there are considerable opportunities
in some of the operator’s smaller markets. Two
countries that stand out in the small operations
cluster, as classified by MTN, are Rwanda and
Zambia. There have been media reports of MTN’s
intention to jointly sell around 1,500 towers in both
markets. Although these reports were yet to be
confirmed at the time of writing, BMI’s assessment
of the countries’ macroeconomic indicators and
telecoms market dynamics points to strong growth
potential for tower outsourcing. We believe MTN’s
tower outsourcing strategy could soon open both
markets to investment by independent tower firms
and other stakeholders in the entire tower value
chain.
Rwanda and Zambia share some macroeconomic
and industry-specific characteristics, which partly
explain the rationale for MTN to join its assets in
both countries in a single deal, akin to the MTNIHS deal involving 1,758 towers in Cameroon and
Cóte d’Ivoire. On the positive side, both countries
have relatively stable political environments and
are forecast to see strong economic and private
consumption growth over the next few years, albeit
from low bases.
Annual economic growth in Rwanda averaged
9.9%
In positive territory - real private consumption growth
(%)
8
8.2% between 2000 and 2012 and poverty has
been significantly reduced. In Zambia, growth
is driven by rising exports and diversification of
the economic base. BMI is forecasting economic
growth of 7.4% in 2013, a slight improvement on
the already impressive real GDP expansion of
7.3% in 2012. On the downside, the two countries
are landlocked and predominantly rural, with
77% of Rwanda’s population and 63% of Zambia’s
population living in rural areas.
With respect to the telecoms sector, Rwanda
and Zambia boast the presence of multiple
international operators, including Airtel which
competes with MTN in both markets. The main risk
associated with the two countries is the high cost
of infrastructure rollout and maintenance owing
to their geographical locations and poor social
infrastructure in rural areas.
Meanwhile, recent developments in Rwanda and
Zambia suggest that both markets are ready for
third-party tower-sharing services. Some of these
are highlighted in the overviews of the market
dynamics in both countries below.
6
4
Rwanda: price competition and coverage
targets call for tower sharing
2
2011
Rwanda
2012
2013f
Zambia
20 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
2014f
2015f
2016f
2017f
F = BMI forecast. Source: BMI
Rwanda’s mobile market hosts three international
operators - MTN, Tigo and Airtel. MTN is the
dominant player with a market share of 56.1% at
the end of Q213, although this has been trending
downwards since mid-2012 owing to increased
competition. Airtel’s arrival fuelled further price
competition in the market, but did not significantly
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
improve subscriptions growth as the market
recorded double-digit growth in just one of the
five quarters between April 2012 and June 2013.
As a result, the government’s target of a 60%
penetration rate by the end of 2012 was missed by a
wide margin. BMI calculates that the country had a
penetration rate of 50.5% at the end of 2012.
Rwanda mobile operators by market
share (%), June 2012
14.3%
56.1%
29.6%
MTN
Tigo
Airtel
Source: BMI, RURA, Operators
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Growing competition
The slow subscriptions growth is attributable to
poor network coverage in rural areas where more
than two- thirds of the population live. Rwanda’s
mobile subscriber base and penetration rate
reached 6.415mn and 55.3% at the end of June 2013.
While BMI forecasts the penetration rate to rise to
61.3% by the end of 2013 and 80% in 2017, we note
that weak rural coverage is a significant risk to the
downside for our outlook.
KTC plans to invest US$140mn in the project and
Rwanda’s government says it will contribute its
3,000km fibre-optic network assets, spectrum and
a wholesale licence. The government has invited
mobile operators to invest in the project, too, as
it begins raising more capital for the network
deployment. Rwanda plans to cover 95% of the
population by 2016. We believe this can best be
achieved by means of significant investment in
tower deployments across the country.
Extending network coverage to rural areas in
Rwanda is an expensive venture, given the poor
social infrastructure outside the cities and major
towns. Meanwhile, intense price competition in
the market has ramped up the downward pressure
on operators’ revenues and, consequently, profit
margins. MTN’s Rwanda unit has the second
lowest ARPU across its entire footprint at US$2.8
in Q213. The requirement to meet strict network
rollout targets in underserved areas and the
prospect of lower ARPUs considering the low
income levels in those areas creates the need for
better cost management in network deployment
and maintenance. We believe one of the strategies
operators will be considering to achieve this is
tower outsourcing.
Zambia: already into tower sharing but
independent players need to drive growth
In addition to cost pressures for operators, BMI
believes the government’s ambitious LTE rollout
plan also creates significant opportunities for the
tower market. In June 2013, Rwanda’s Ministry
of Youth and ICT and Korean telecoms operator
KT Corporation (KTC) announced a partnership
to build a nation-wide LTE network in Rwanda.
The government of Zambia has implemented
a number of policies to encourage network
infrastructure development in underserved
areas, including a tax waiver on communication
equipment issued in March 2011 and the launch
of a universal access project (UAP) in November.
The UAP is a joint effort by the Zambia Information
MTN competes with Airtel and Zamtel in Zambia.
There is strong competition in the market, with
the largest operator, Airtel, having a market
share of less than 50%. Although the market was
spared the brutal price competition that spread
across the region for most of 2011 and 2012,
ARPUs are relatively low, hovering around the
US$5 mark, while high operating expenses add
to the downward pressure on profit margins.
Meanwhile, subscriptions growth is fairly muted
considering that mobile penetration is well below
100%. According to BMI data, the country’s mobile
penetration was 71.1% at the end of 2012 and is
forecast to reach 91.2% by 2017.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
21
of the UAP, we do not rule out the likelihood of
MTN and Zamtel getting uncomfortable with
certain aspects of the project, including deployment
strategies, service delivery and cost, in the future.
and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA)
and Airtel to construct and manage more than 350
shareable towers across the country. The country’s
three mobile network operators as well as TV and
radio stations can use the towers for a fee set by
Airtel and ZICTA.
In view of the potential pitfalls in the UAP project,
BMI believes that ZICTA’s tower-sharing initiative
and coverage targets would be better served by
the participation of independent tower firms. MTN
is the most likely of the three operators to initiate
tower outsourcing in Zambia, especially if recent
media reports are true. We also believe Airtel and
Zamtel will be open to renting capacity on third
party-managed towers in order to improve their
services and trim costs.
The UAP is the first major step towards
towersharing in Zambia. While the move has the
potential to boost network rollout to rural areas and
generate cost benefits to operators, the argument
against Airtel’s direct participation in the project
and the possibility of it gaining undue advantage
over its rivals could undermine the benefits of the
project. Despite the best intentions of the promoters
Under pressure: MTN Zambia ARPU (US$)
6
Who will be interested?
We expect the leading independent tower firms
in Africa to find the prospect of expanding into
Rwanda and Zambia attractive given their relatively
stable political environments, positive economic
outlooks and telecoms market growth potential.
MTN has so far worked with ATC and IHS, two
of the big four tower firms. This supports the
argument that both firms will be in pole position
to clinch the operator’s next tower outsourcing
deal. However, Helios Towers has already acquired
towers from Tigo in Tanzania and the DRC and is
likely to set its sights on the operator’s Rwanda
unit. This could make it push for a deal with MTN
in Rwanda in order to scale up its assets in the
country.
Meanwhile, India’s Bharti Airtel is believed to be
keen on hiving off its tower assets to Bharti Infratel,
its subsidiary that owns around 34,000 towers in
India. Bharti Airtel has an 80% stake in Infratel
and also a 42% stake in Indian-based tower joint
venture Indus Towers, which owns almost 112,000
towers across 15 circles in India. Another option
could be to create a new subsidiary to manage its
18,000-strong tower portfolio in Africa. Either way,
it is increasingly likely that the operator will play
a more active role in the tower market, possibly
before the end of 2013. This could significantly
change the landscape and dynamics of the region’s
tower market
4
2
Q111
Q211
Q311
Q411
Series 1
22 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Q112
Q212
Q312
Q412
Q512
www.businessmonitor.com/bmo
F = BMI forecast. Source: BMI
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Share Square: Senegal
Mott MacDonald analyse the prospects for a tower deal in Senegal
Passive
None
Current Sharing
Active
3 MNOs: Orange Senegal, Tigo (Millicom), Expresso (owned by Sudatel)
Subscriber penetration at ~86.5% with 99% of all subscribers using pre-paid SIMs. Strong subscriber
growth in 2012 of 23%. 3G penetration at 4%.
No tower sharing to date – but Orange’s relationship with Eaton and Tigo’s (Millicom) relationship
with Helios would suggest strong potential for a deal
Market opportunity dictated by continued deployment of 3G, however strong competition between
operators may limit opportunity for high lease up rate – at least initially ... however...
Sudatel (Expresso) is reported to be considering selling its African assets. Change of control
may provide a TowerCo with opportunity to support Expresso’s new owner’s continued rollout
Egypt
Senegal
3G
4G
Senegal Mobile Operators – Market Share
While Senegal is similar to Mali in terms of population
and age profile of the population, the country has
a GDP per capita (in PPP terms) twice that of its
neighbour at $2,2006. ARPUs are low – Orange reports
ARPU of €6 for 2012, down by 8.4% due to strong price
competition from unlimited plans and an increase in
lower usage customers7. Subscriber acquisition in 2012
shows that Expresso, as the new entrant, competed
strongly for customers, growing from 864,000 to 1.7M,
nearly doubling in size. Orange was able to grow by its
customer base by 17% while Tigo grew by 11%.
There is no indication of tower sharing to date in the
country. However, given that Orange has a strong
relationship with Eaton Towers and Tigo (Millcom)
with Helios, it would not be surprising to see a towerco
considering entry into this market. The situation is
made more interesting by recent reports that Sudatel,
who owns Expresso, is looking to sell its stake in its
African operations8. This might provide an opportunity
for a recently established towerco to provide sites for
expansion plans of the new owners of Expresso.
Technology Development
Opportunity for TowerCo entry with
focus on high Lease Up Rate (LUR)
Senegal Mobile Operators
15%
23%
Orange
62%
Tigo
Expresso Sudatel
24 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Opportunity for Outsourcing
by MNO to TowerCo
Limited opportunity for new
entrant TowerCo
Senegal has a population of 13.51 million and is served by
3 mobile network operators: Orange Senegal (62% market
share)2, Tigo (Millicom – 23% market share) and Expresso
Sengal (Sudatel – 15% market share). With 11.5 million
subscribers, penetration is estimated at 86.5%, and grew
at 23% in 20123. 99% of subscribers use pre-paid SIMs
and 3G penetration is estimated at 4%4. As with many
African countries the population is young: it is estimated
that over 63% are 24 or younger5.
The operators will continue to focus on 3G deployment:
with land line penetration at 282,000 lines and Internet
lines estimated at less than 96,000, mobile offers the
only real viable Internet access option
1 CIA World Factbook – data is estimate for July 2013
2 Orange owns 42.3%, Tigo is 100% owned by Millicom, and
Expresso is 75% owned by Sudatel.
3 ARTP (Regulator)
4 GSMA
5 CIA World Factbook
6 ibid
7 Orange web site.
8 Reported in TeleGeography on 22nd March – Sudatel plots mass
exodus; African subsidiaries up for grabs.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Accelerate your sales cycle
and close your next major deal in Africa
Advertise in the TowerXchange Journal, circulated to a highly targeted community of the 3,052
most influential tower decision makers
3%
2%
4%
5%
Operators
13%
Turnkey & managed
9%
27%
10%
C-level
services
VP, Exec Director,
Partner
Towercos
Power equipment & ESCOs
Investors & advisers
Passive equipment
10%
16%
11%
44%
17%
Active equipment &
Regulators
Others
24%
MENA
45%
Director-level/
Dept Head
Senior Manager/
Managing Exec
providers
services
11%
Sub-Saharan
Africa
18%
Middle & Junior
Manager
Americas
Europe
22%
Asia
10%
To book your advertisement, contact: Annabelle Mayhew | [email protected] | M. +44 (0) 7423 512588
Vodacom and Etisalat’s
tower strategy
A sneak preview of the operator keynote panel session at the TowerXchange Meetup
One of the highlights of the TowerXchange Meetup on
October 1 and 2 in Johannesburg will be the operator
keynote panel session, seeking insights into the experiences
and strategies of the top tower decision makers at some of
Africa’s leading operators. TowerXchange shares a sneak
preview of that panel in conversation with Vodacom’s
Douglas Lubbe and Tim Knowles of Etisalat.
Michel Faivre of Orange will also be part of the panel
- you can read an interview with Michel in issue 3 of
TowerXchange.
Keywords: TowerXchange Meetup Preview, MNOs, Deal
Structure, Valuation, Due Diligence, Opex Reduction, Colocations, Data Room, First Mover Advantage, New Market
Entrants, Leasing & Permitting, Sale & Leaseback, Stakeholder
Buy-in, Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria,
Vodacom, Etisalat
Read this article to learn:
< The merits of pan-African tower deals versus evaluating each market individually
< How tower auctions work
< The challenge of assembling comprehensive data for due diligence
< The implications of tower transactions for supply chain partners
< How a large transaction in Nigeria could impact the African tower market
26 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please you to introduce yourself
and your role in tower strategy.
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: I’m
part of the International business team, involved
in tower strategy across Vodacom’s non-South
African businesses: DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique
and Tanzania, where we recently closed a tower
transaction. My role includes central strategy and
operational responsibilities.
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: I run the
M&A team at Etisalat. My team also supports our
OpCos on any tower transactions. Within Etisalat,
tower transactions tend to be led at an OpCo level,
although I have some dedicated members of my
team to support transactions.
TowerXchange: How would you summarise
Vodacom and Etisalat’s current tower strategy in
Africa?
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: We
evaluate each market on its own merits, considering
the local market dynamics. We have no rigid tower
strategy applied across the organisation. If we
arrive at a view that a tower transaction makes
sense in a certain country and it helps us achieve
our organisational goals, then we’ll pursue it.
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: Etisalat tried
to do pan-African tower deal, but it didn’t work
out, and it made us late to market. Now we take a
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: What criteria inform the
structure of a tower transaction - for example
a full sale and leaseback versus a long-term
managed service deal versus structuring a joint
venture where you retain equity in the towerco?
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: In some
markets Etisalat might need to retain a stake
because of the credit worthiness of the country
and the financial strength of the assets, while in
others we would be happy to fully exit - whatever
maximises the attractiveness of the portfolio to the
towercos, while meeting our needs.
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: We
consider the requirements of each market
individually and would structure a transaction
according to the needs of that market.
TowerXchange: Can you talk about the role of the
Group HQ-level strategists in tower strategy and
the role of the local OpCo stakeholders.
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: In general we
favour outsourcing technology or towers - there’s a
push toward outsourcing across the whole portfolio.
As I mentioned, tower strategy is driven locally by
OpCos, but our Group team will help to diagnose the
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
in that market, and if we can still secure first mover
advantage, then we have no problem getting the
local management team and stakeholders engaged.
If the OpCo needs several
millions of dollars in extra
capex and we don’t have it
for them, yet they have to
compete with other operators
on coverage, then it is easy to
bring up the possibility of a
tower deal
“
more opportunistic, country by country approach,
considering tower transactions if it makes sense for
the local OpCo. But we don’t view towers as a core
asset.
needs of that OpCo, for example supporting them in
fulfilling coverage obligations, or if they are later to
market, accelerating rollouts.
If there is limited capex available, we’ll advise what
financial structures and transactions they should
look at, we’ll recommended advisers, and use our
Group leverage over towercos as relationships can
be extended from one market to the next.
Usually there is no problem getting the local
management teams engaged with a potential tower
transaction. If the OpCo needs several millions of
dollars in extra capex and we don’t have it for them,
yet they have to compete with other operators on
coverage, then it is easy to bring up the possibility
of a tower deal. If the towercos are already active
Whether there’s the possibility of a tower
transaction or not, we encourage our OpCos to
spend less on new builds and to use co-locations
where they can.
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: The group
role is to support the OpCo in achieving the desired
operational results. When we look at potential
tower strategies at a group level, we come up with
the best scenarios available for each market, and
that could include tower transactions. Negotiating
a tower deal takes a lot of management time,
so we tend to manage it centrally to free OpCo
management to focus on day-to-day issues.
TowerXchange: I appreciate you can’t talk about
any active tower auctions that may be in the
market, but if you were going to solicit interested
parties to bid for a portfolio of towers, how
would you do it?
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: As a whole we
tend to use advisers, again to protect management
bandwidth. There are three or four banks with
some depth of experience of transactions of this
nature, a couple of which know Etisalat particularly
well.
Once there’s board-level approval for a deal,
there is a lot to sort out internally - having all the
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
27
Once we get all that information together, we have
to define our organisational priorities, for example
whether we’re going to sell and leaseback our
towers to maximise the cash released, or whether
we are going to prioritise stabilising and reducing
opex. Then we go to market with a teaser to solicit
indicative bids. We evaluate the offers, choose the
most valid bid, and bring that back to our clearance
team, who negotiate to maximise the price.
That’s how we’ve typically run the process. In one
previous instance we were trying to maximise the
proceeds, in other instances our priorities were
more focused on outsourcing and reducing the
amount of management time concentrated on
towers.
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: Our
recent transaction was not an auction however
this does not rule out the possibility that this type
of approach could be followed in other markets.
Of critical importance is understanding the
capabilities and abilities of the tower operators in
our markets and what they bring to the table. We
also use advisers, and a similar process to the one
Tim described.
Because of the long duration of a towerco
relationship, you have to evaluate all the
commercial offers, and evaluate the towerco’s
28 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
local team to assemble the documentation - sending
a secondary team to support information gathering
is not really an option for us as it would not add any
value to that process.
Partnering with a towerco is
like a marriage, and a quick
separation is not possible,
so it’s important to choose
the right partner on what is
important for the business
“
documentation and permits is not a foregone
conclusion in Africa. It can be surprisingly difficult
to work out the real opex costs at each site.
strategy, management team and investor goals
and then see how these fit with your long-term
organisational goals. Partnering with a towerco
is like a marriage, and a quick separation is not
possible, so it’s important to choose the right
partner on what is important for the business.
TowerXchange: Can you give us a bit more colour
on the preparation of information about a tower
portfolio - what kind of information is required
for due diligence, and how do you gather that
information?
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: The data
sets are pretty standard for a tower transaction
- towercos are clear on the information that they
need to run their models. You have to rely on your
If you decide you want to embark on a tower
transaction, you’ve got to ensure all your ground
leases and approvals are up to date. Simple things
like the ability to cede a lease can often frustrate a
transaction.
Most big operators have been running for ten or
more years, so it can be a real challenge to get
the required documents in place. You also need
to understand what information the towerco is
looking for, as their metrics are different from
yours - try to get a handle on those data sets prior to
the negotiation; understand their requirements to
future proof yourself!
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: From my
experience this is the biggest headache!
Some of our OpCos are old, and the documentation
may not always be complete. At times in Africa
there has been a culture of not always getting all
the permits you need - only when selling assets do
you need to chase paper and ensure everything is
stamped and done properly.
Sometimes we’ll send a couple of people from
Group to be on the ground and support this process.
At some of our newer companies, such as
Afghanistan, all the information is in place. But in
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Tower deals are time consuming and complex, and
can take many months!
TowerXchange: Please talk to us about the
implications of tower transactions for your
existing supply chain partners. For example,
when do your suppliers find out about a deal?
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: In our
case we already had a managed services contract,
and we felt we could engage with certain external
parties without jeopardising the deal.
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: Etisalat have
not closed any tower transactions in Africa yet,
although we have a number of transactions in
progress.
Many of our outsourcing contracts are structured to
allow review if towercos were to take over.
Unfortunately suppliers further down the food
chain often have to be the last to find out. We try
to make sure existing suppliers are taken over by
towercos - if we’re joining forces with a towerco that
has already been formed, it’s a different situation
compared to when we’re first movers.
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What happens after a portfolio
of towers has been transferred to a towerco what is the role of the operator, for example in
equipment and service partner selection?
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: After a
tower deal, passive equipment is no longer our
concern. We hold the towerco to SLAs and how they
achieve those SLAs is their business.
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: Again, we
haven’t closed any deals yet, but I’d imagine the role
of the operator would depend if they retain a stake
in the towerco. Operationally, it’s now the towerco’s
problem.
TowerXchange: From your perspective, do the
existing towercos have the digestive capacity to
acquire a substantial portion of African towers?
Are there gaps in the market for niche towercos
targeting smaller markets?
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat: I think the
real question is whether they have the financial
capacity. The big tower market not in play yet is
Nigeria, where MTN alone have 10,000 towers. I
think it would be tough to do a single deal there.
We’re also concerned about management
bandwidth at the towercos; are they able to ensure
QoS across all their local companies as they expand?
Personally, I’m not sure if additional towerco
players have the necessary appetite for and
“
In some smaller markets, I
don’t believe towercos are
necessarily prepared to invest
the capital they need to. They
don’t see them as attractive
markets
“
Etisalat’s older markets gathering information for
due diligence can take many months. Calculating
the opex can take a surprising amount of time,
we’ve found that OpCos don’t always have true
grasp of costs on a per site basis.
understanding of Africa. The existing four
leading towercos should be able to meet market
requirements, but if Nigeria does come to market, it
will be interesting to see the impact.
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom Group: In some
smaller markets, I don’t believe towercos are
necessarily prepared to invest the capital they need
to. They don’t see them as attractive markets. The
towercos seem to focus on large markets first, to
achieve growth, then they may look at clusters of
small markets.
Hear more from Douglas Lubbe and Tim Knowles as
they participate in the operator keynote panel at the
TowerXchange Meetup, taking place on October 1
and 2 in Johannesburg. For more information, visit:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
29
Meetup Africa 2013
October 1 and 2, Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg
A unique, invitation-only gathering of the top 200 decision makers
in the African tower industry
The TowerXchange Meetup facilitates dialogues between operators, towercos, and investors to accelerate
tower transactions, while examining the impact on the supply chain and showcasing innovations proven
to reduce opex.
This unique event features small group, round table sessions dedicated to key infrastructure sharing topics
or regions, enabling you to tailor your agenda to your learning and networking objectives.
Register now at www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa. Questions? Call Annabelle on +44 7423 512588
Diamond Sponsor:
Bronze Sponsors:
Silver Sponsors:
developed by
Media and association partners:
TowerXchange Meetup Schedule
Day one, Tuesday 1 October
From 8:00 Registration and coffee
<Ahjeeth Jaijai, Investec
<David Porte, Vice President, International, SBA
<Daniel Lee, Managing Director, Intrepid Advisory
Communications
Partners
<Christian Skaanild, Partner, Capital International
9:00 Welcome and opening remarks
<Aniko Szigetvari, Head - TMT Group, IFC
9:10 The current state of the African tower
<Gilles Tre-Hardy, Lazard
industry and forecasts for the next three years
<Nina Triantis, Managing Director, Global Head of
<Kieron Osmotherly, Founder & CEO,
11:00 Morning coffee and networking
Private Equity Funds
11:30 Partner selection shootout
12:30 Networking lunch
Telecoms & Media, Standard Bank
TowerXchange
2:00 Third structured networking round table
5:20 Close of Day one
9:40 Mobile network operator tower decision
3:20 Afternoon coffee and networking
makers panel:
5:30 Operator and towerco only drinks reception
<Michel Faivre, Directeur Programme Partage
6:30 Main drinks reception
3:40 Case study: the launch and expansion of
8:00 Dine-around (evening meal is not included in
TowerCo of Madagascar
your registration fee)
<Laurent Roineau, General Manager,
d’Infrastructure AMEA, Orange
<Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive: International
Business Development, Vodacom International
TowerCo of Madagascar
<Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat
Day two, Wednesday 2 October
10:40 Morning coffee and networking
9:00 How towercos are valued: public towerco
value is being destroyed in the African tower
11:00 First structured networking round table
valuations and private market M&A multiples
industry
<Jonathan Atkin, Managing Director, RBC Capital
<Andrew Snead, Managing Partner SSA,
Markets
Delta Partners
4:00 Where value is being created and where
12:20 Networking lunch
<Fede Membrilla, Managing Partner and Head
1:40 Second structured networking round table
9:20 Towerco keynote panel:
3:00 Afternoon coffee and networking
<Inder Bajaj, CEO, Helios Towers Nigeria
3:20 Investor keynote panel:
<Chuck Green, CEO, Helios Towers Africa
4:20 Summary and closing remarks
<Chris Gabriel, Senior Adviser, Macquarie and
<Alan Harper, CEO, Eaton Towers
<Kieron Osmotherly, Founder & CEO,
<Fazal Hussain, CEO, SWAP International
TowerXchange
former CEO, Zain Africa
4
| TowerXchange Meetup | www.towerxchange.com
of Corporate Finance, Delta Partners
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
31
Our speakers and panelists will include
Jonathan Atkin, Managing Director,
RBC Capital Markets
Inder Bajaj, CEO, Helios Towers Nigeria
Michel Faivre, Directeur Programme
Partage d’Infrastructure AMEA, Orange
Chris Gabriel, Senior Adviser, Macquarie
and former CEO, Zain Africa
Chuck Green, CEO, Helios Towers Africa
Alan Harper, CEO, Eaton Towers
Fazal Hussain, CEO, SWAP International
Ahjeeth Jaijai, Investec
Daniel Lee, Managing Director, Intrepid
Advisory Partners
Douglas Lubbe, Group Executive:
International Business Development,
Vodacom International
Tim Knowles, Head of M&A, Etisalat
Fede Membrilla, Managing Partner and
Head of Corporate Finance, Delta Partners
Laurent Roineau, General manager,
TowerCo of Madagascar
TowerXchange Round Table Ropics and Expert Hosts
How our structured networking round tables work
Each “Round table” is a 80-minute structured networking session assembling participants in groups of
8-10, brought together by a common regional or topic matter interest, and arranged so each group ideally,
includes 1-2 MNOs, 1-2 towercos, an investor, advisor, OEM or managed service provider, energy equipment
and a static asset or RMS manufacturer.
Country-specific round tables
Country focus: Tanzania Hosted by Norman
Moyo, CEO, Helios Towers Tanzania
Country focus: Nigeria Hosted by Fazal Hussain,
CEO, SWAP International
Country focus: South Africa Hosted by Keith
Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa
Country focus: DRC Hosted by Jeff Schumacher,
Chief Commercial Officer, Helios Towers DRC
David Porte, Vice President, International,
SBA Communications
How to reduce opex
Christian Skaanild, Partner, Capital
International Private Equity Funds
Andrew Snead, Managing Partner, SSA,
Delta Partners
Aniko Szigetvari, Head - TMT Group, IFC
Gilles Tre-Hardy, Lazard
Nina Triantis, Managing Director, Global
Head of Telecoms & Media, Standard Bank
32 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Business models for buying and selling energy
by the kWh Hosted by Bob Hurley, VP MEA, Eltek
How to efficiently implement intelligent power
systems Hosted by Bill Bubenicek, Managing
Director, Clean Power Systems
‘Real’ asset management - how to identify the
capital investments that deliver the best RoI
Hosted by Jannie van Rhyn, General Manager,
Inala Infrastructure Intelligence
Optimising the relationship between towercos
and hybrid systems suppliers Hosted by David
King, CEO, Flexenclosure
How to protect your sites from theft of fuel
and equipment Hosted by SiteOne
How to progress from reactive to proactive
maintenance Hosted by Satish Kulkarni, CEO,
Invendis
How to conduct a green power feasibility study
Hosted by Satish Kumar, Africa Project Manager
– Green Power for Mobile, GSMA Mobile for
Development
How to conduct a green power feasibility
study (repeat session) Hosted by Areef Kassam,
Director – Infrastructure, GSMA Mobile for
Development
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 3 |
XX
How to build a separate P&L for each tenant
Hosted by Asher Avissar, CEO, AIO Systems
Director of Director of Compliance and Safety,
Helios Towers Africa
Upgrading passive infrastructure and
extending networks
Health, Safety and Security Working Group
II: Access Control and PPE Hosted by David
Meganck, Founder & COO, Acsys and Hemmant
Sapra, President, Karam
Tower strengthening and power system
upgrades for multiple tenants Hosted by MER
Telecom
Buyer beware: is the cheapest price the lowest
total cost for passive infrastructure products?
Hosted by Anni Boddington, CEO, TESA Africa
How towercos achieve SLAs Hosted by Glyn
Sowerby, General Manager – SMC Operations,
Quintica
How to measure and improve Tower Cash
Flow
Hosted by Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman,
Tarantula
How to make rural communications
commercially viable Hosted by MER Telecom +
special guest
How to measure and maximise performance
and the achievement of SLAs Hosted by
Laurentius Human, CEO, Inala
How to make the economics of rural
connectivity work by combining low cost, low
power base stations with community power
and value added services Hosted by Dion
Jerling, Director of Special Projects, Connect
Africa
How to overcome the perceived country risk,
political risk and operational risk of operating
towers in frontier markets Hosted by Monty
Simus, CEO and Chris Lundh, COO, Frontier
Tower Solutions
Health, Safety and Security Working Group I:
Policy & Practice Hosted by Marnus van Wyck,
Managing Director, EMSS and Nick Summers,
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Structuring African tower transactions: which
type of transaction works best? Hosted by Jeff
Eldredge and/or Robert Dixon, Partners, Vinson
& Elkins
Tower strategy
How to audit the tenancy capacity of legacy
towers from a structural and power systems
perspective Hosted by Gary Staunton, CEO,
Likusasa
Health, Safety and Security
How to structure a tower carve out
Hosted by Andrew Doyle, Managing Director,
Communications & Technology, Mott MacDonald
Opportunities to buy, sell or build smaller
portfolios of less than 300 towers in Africa
Hosted by Nathan Foster, CEO and Mike Powers,
Legal Director, Atlas Tower
The investibility of African telecom towers
Hosted by Nina Triantis, Global Head of TMT,
Standard Bank
How to engage key group and local
stakeholders at operators to improve the
chances of closing tower transactions Hosted
by Chris Gabriel, Senior Adviser, Macquarie;
Chairman, Clean Power Systems & Former CEO,
Zain Africa
How to raise capital for tower transactions
Hosted by Alex Leigh, Business Development
Director, Helios Towers Africa
Beyond passive infrastructure sharing
Business models for towercos to move
beyond passive infrastructure sharing
into FTTT, transmission sharing and active
infrastructure sharing Hosted by Hallgeir
Juliebo, HSJ & Partners
Active RAN sharing is coming, is your tower
strategy future proofed? Hosted by Nick
Elverston, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
33
Optional post-Meetup workshops
Thursday 3 October, 9:00 - 4:30
11:15 How to raise capital for emerging market
tower transactions
9:00 The implications of 3G or 4G deployment for
tower operators
This workshop will explain how to demonstrate the
investibility of an emerging market telecom tower
transaction.
Light lunch and refreshment breaks provided
Whilst mobile penetrations are reaching high levels in
some African countries, all expectations are that there is
still considerable growth remaining across the continent.
The growth in penetration will come through providing
voice and SMS services to currently unconnected people;
something which 2G technologies can easily accommodate.
As experienced all over the world though, there will
also be significant growth in data use, particularly given
the generally limited reach and capabilities of fixed
infrastructure. 3G and 4G technologies will be needed to
meet this demand. However, there can be very different
drivers and outcomes when deploying 3G/ 4G compared to
2G. This workshop will seek to explore some key areas that
may impact tower operators.
<What are the technical underpinnings of 3G and 4G
(in particular), and why is this important to towercos?
<How far will 3G/ 4G deployment reach, and how can
towercos assist?
<What capacity densities might be needed, and can/
will towercos offer more than macro sites?
<Will there be any impact due to Single RAN solutions,
and can towercos maintain their revenues?
<Will active shared infrastructures be deployed, and
what might the implications be for towercos?
We’ll explore the financing options available given the
risk, size of investment, hold and potential returns of
investment in emerging market towers. We’ll consider
the relative cost, availability and appetite of debt, private
equity, development fund and infrastructure fund finance.
And we’ll examine tower portfolios from an investor’s
perspective in terms of country risk, regulation,
competitive environment, the credit worthiness of anchor
tenants and the key components of potential Tower Cash
Flow (TCF) in terms of tenancy ratios, demand and capacity
for additional tenancies, and operating costs.
<How to secure a terms sheet to demonstrate your ability
to finance a winning bid
<The due diligence investors will conduct on your
business and on your prospective tower transaction
<What you need to know about the documentation that
underpins a towerco investment
<What level of gearing will investors permit towercos to
reach before they wait for proven results before
investing again?
<Thinking ahead: refinancing and exit strategies
2:00 How to maximise the value of passive
infrastructure through the sale and leaseback
of towers
This workshop will explain how to structure a tower
transaction to meet your organisational objectives, and
how to drive the strategy for the sale and leaseback of
tower assets.
Operators able to bring their tower assets to market in
a timely manner can secure first mover advantage and
a premium valuation, while those left behind risk their
towers becoming stranded assets on their balance sheets.
<Defining your objectives, including the balance of
capital release and opex reduction
<The information you need in your data room
<How towercos conduct due diligence to evaluate tower
portfolios
<Identifying the best deal structure to meet your needs:
operational leases versus sale and leaseback versus
retaining a stake in a joint venture
<What you need to know about the documentation that
underpins a tower transaction
<How to solicit and negotiate bids
<Priorities after the deal has been agreed – what needs to
be done during the ‘run period’ and who should do it
4:30 Close of workshop day
Your workshop hosts
About your workshop host
Andrew Doyle, Managing Director, Technology &
Communications Practice, Mott MacDonald
and Dave Tanner, Director of Technology Strategy
and Design, Mott MacDonald
Daniel Lee is the “rainmaker” of African towers, having worked on eight different tower transactions, advising
mobile operators such as MTN, Millicom and Cell C. Daniel has also worked closely with a number of independent
towercos, including assisting them in raising capital to finance transactions. Daniel recently left Citi to form Intrepid
Advisory Partners – an independent advisory firm focused on the tower industry.
34 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Meetup |
5
TowerXchange’s unique structured networking round tables
TowerXchange roundtables bring together 8-10 representatives
of different segments of the tower industry ecosystem, brought
together by a common geographical focus or hot topic. There
are 3 roundtable sessions at the Meetup, each new roundtable
“reshuffles” the decision maker-level participants at your table so
you will meet several different prospective partners.
Partner selection shootout
in Progress
Small groups of buyers recieve
5 minute demonstrations
200 Director, VP and C-level Decision makers broken down
as follows:
Mobile Network Operators
Towercos
Investors and Investment Management Advisors
Lawyers and Strategic Consultants
Energy Equipment Providers
OEMs & Managed Service Providers
Static Assets (10), Access Control & Monitoring and Management
6
| TowerXchange Meetup | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
35
Tower Industry Value Chain
Investors: private equity, debt finance, infrastructure funds
Investment management advisors
Independent Towercos
Subcontract
Strategic consultancy
Due diligence
Demand forecasts
Valuations
Group level strategists
C-suite & network planners at local OpCos
Mobile Network Operators
Transfer assets to
Some become
towerco
Sell co-locations
Upgrade capacity
Build-to-suit
Maximise uptime
Reduce opex
Invest in network
Law firms
Outsource
to
Tier 1 OEMs
Subcontract
or in-house
Managed service providers
Construction services
Static assets
Turnkey infrastructure rollout
Manufacture of steelwork
Import, customs & delivery
Leasing & permitting
Installation of towers
Upgrades for capacity
O&M services
Towers & masts
Shelters
Brackets
Enclosures
Lighting
Fencing
Monitoring &
management
Outsource
to
0&M services
RMS
Intelligence/analysis
Site management
Job ticketing
Asset lifecycle platform
Maintenance
Staffing
Spare parts
VMI?
Refueling
Energy as a service
Access control
Diesel genset
Solar
Wind
Fuel cell
Many of our clients complain that similar events have
failed to deliver genuine decision makers; that won’t be
the case at TowerXchange.
The TowerXchange Meetup is exclusively for Director, VP
and C-level decision makers. If registrants are substituted,
we will only accept replacement registrants of equal or
greater seniority than those pre-approved.
Through our passive infrastructure focused journal
publication and research, TowerXchange have cultivated
relationships with 3,052 (at time of press) decision
makers in African towers, 85% of whom are at Director,
VP or C-level.
More importantly, we have personal relationships with
the 200 or so individuals with genuine strategic and
procurement decision making responsibilities. The
TowerXchange Meetup has been requested and designed
by the top decision makers in African towers, so you can
be confident that the vast majority of those key contacts
will be at the event.
Who will you meet
Dynamic assets
Energy equipment
How TowerXchange ensure an audience
of decision makers
Batteries
Rectifiers
Inverters
Line conditioning
PIUs
Backhaul, FTTT, Core Network
36 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Air conditioning
Lightning protection
Controller
Voltage regulator
ESCOs
Microgeneration
Community power
Active equipment
TowerXchange serves the African tower community
along two intersecting axes. On a horizontal axis we
facilitate relationships between MNOs, towercos,
investors and their advisers, aiding the structuring
of deals and the transfer of assets. On a vertical axis,
we examine the impact on, and opportunities for, the
passive infrastructure supply chain, whether they
sell to MNOs, towercos or through OEMs.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Meetup |
7
Sample of registered delegates to date at the TowerXchange Meetup
Operators and towercos
CEO, Africa Towers (Airtel’s towerco)
Operations Director, Africa Towers (Airtel’s
towerco)
Key Accounts Manager, Africa Towers (Airtel’s
towerco)
CEO: Africa, American Tower
Head: Power Solutions, American Tower
CEO, Atlas Tower
Legal Director, Atlas Tower
Special Projects Director, Connect Africa
CEO, Eaton Towers
Managing Director, Eaton Towers Kenya
Business Development Director, Eaton Towers
South Africa
Group Corporate Finance Operator,
Econet Wireless
Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Etisalat
Director - Valuations M&A / Corporate Strategy,
Etisalat
Chief Operations Officer, Frontier Tower
Solutions
Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Tower Solutions
Chief Commercial Director, Globalcom Group
CEO, Helios Towers Africa
COO, Helios Towers Africa
Business Development Director, Helios Towers
Africa
Director of Compliance and Safety, Helios Towers
4
| TowerXchange Meetup | www.towerxchange.com
Africa
Chief Commercial Officer, DRC Helios Towers DRC
CEO, Helios Towers Nigeria
Chief Marketing Officer, Helios Towers Nigeria
CEO, Helios Towers Tanzania
Senior Manager: M&A, MTN
Directeur Programme Partage d’Infrastructure
AMEA, Orange
VP, Business Development, SBA Communications
Vice President - International, SBA
Communications
Group CTO, Smile Communications
CTO, Smile Communications
General Manager, Stelekom Global Network Ltd
CEO, SWAP International
Director Real Estate Consulting South Africa,
SWORN
Senior Manager, Telkom Mobile
Executive, Telkom Mobile
Executive, Telkom Mobile
Managing Executive, Telkom SA SOC Ltd
General Manager, Towerco of Madagascar
Chief Technology Officer, Vimpelcom (Telecel
Zimbabwe)
Business Performance Partner, Vodacom
Manager, Network International Operations
Support, Vodacom Group
Executive: International Business Development,
Vodacom International
Investors and advisers
Head: TMT Coverage, Absa Capital / Barclays
Partner, AT Kearney
Investment Analyst, Capital International
Partner, Capital International Private Equity
Funds
Managing Partner, Ergos Energy
Head - Telecom, Media & Technology Group, IFC
Investment Banking Specialist, Investec
Consultant, Investec
Senior Advisor, Macquarie
Managing Director, Mott MacDonald
Director of Technology Strategy & Design, Mott
MacDonald
Head of Africa, Mott MacDonald
MD: Energy & Infrastructure, Shanduka Group
MD, Global Head of Telecoms & Media, Standard
Bank
Investment Banking Credit Manager, Standard
Bank
Managing Partner, SSA, Delta Partners
Managing Partner and Head of Corporate
Finance, Delta Partners
Partner, Herbet Smith Freehills
Managing Partner, HSJ Partners
Managing Director, Intrepid Advisory Services
Merger and Acquisitions, Lazard
Partner, Vinson & Elkins
Africa Project Manager, GSMA Mobile for
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
37
Development
Director of Infrastructure, GSMA Mobile for
Development
Managing Director, RBC Capital Markets
Turnkey infrastructure and managed services
CEO - Africa, Alkan
Country Manager, Alkan
Sales Account Manager, Alkan
Director Business Development, Camusat
Deputy CEO, Camusat
Member of the Board of Directors, HOI - MEA
Infrastructure Sharing Project Manager, HOI MEA
Country Manager, HOI - MEA
CEO, Leadcom
Business Development, Leadcom
SVP, Lemcon
CEO, Likusasa
Managing Director, Likusasa,
Divisional Director - Group Sales, Likusasa
VP Sales and Marketing, MER Telecom
Regional Director Africa, MER Telecom
Head - Projects & Strategy, NEWL
Business Development Manager, NEWL
Managing Director, Reime East Africa
Chief Marketing Officer, Reime/ACME
Managing Director, Reime/ACME
Deputy Sales Director, Sagemcom
Energy & Site Management Product Manager,
Sagemcom
38 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Energy solutions
VP & CEO, Ascot
Area Manager, Ascot
Managing Director, Clean Power Systems
Market Strategy and Planning Manager, Cummins
Managing Director, DAQs Europe
VP MEA, Eltek
Regional Sales Manager, Eltek
Managing Director, SSA, Emerson Network Power
VP of Global Marketing, Emerson Network Power
Sales Manager, Enatel
Global Accounts Manager, FG Wilson
VP Strategy, Flexenclosure
CEO, Flexenclosure
VP eSite, Flexenclosure
Head of Emerging Markets, Gildemeister
Director, SSA, Heliocentris
RMS and site management systems
CEO, azeti Network
VP Sales and Marketing, azeti Network
Executive Chairman, Tarantula
Sales Director EMEA, Tarantula
Marketing Manager, Tarantula
General Manager: SMC Operations, Quintica
Strategy Director, Quintica
Global Key Account Manager, HMS Industrial
Networks
Founder & CEO, Invendis
VP Business Development, Invendis
Co-founder and CEO, AIO systems
VP Sales, AIO systems
VP Marketing, AIO systems
CEO, Galooli
General Manager, Infrastructure Intelligence,
INALA
CEO, INALA
Sales Director, Qowisio,
Commercial Director, Telemisis
Towers and components
Channel Manager, Dialight
Head - Telecom and structures, Ganges
Internationale
Co-Founder, President and CEO, Geostrut
CEO, Intelli Towers Ltd
Marketing Manager, Orion
Head of Business Development, TESA Africa
CEO, TESA Africa
Sales Manager, International, Valmont Site Pro 1
Export Sales Manager West Africa, Valmont
Structures
Others
Founder, Acsys
COO, Acsys
Managing Director, Anzac Cables & Wire
President Africa, Ceragon,
VP, CHANNEL IT NIG LTD.
Managing Director, EMSS Consulting
President, PN International (Karam)
Chief Executive Officer, Site Acquisition Services
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Meetup |
5
Delegate Registration
TowerXchange Meetup Africa 2013, October 1 and 2, Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg
To register, complete, scan and email this form to [email protected] or register online at www.towerxchange.com
Registration Details
Company Name:
Delegate 1 Name:
Delegate 1 Email:
Delegate 2 Name:
Delegate 1 Email:
Tel:
Address:
PO Number:
Invoice address & payment contact (if different):
Note that delegates must be Department Heads, Director, VP or C-level, unless special permission
is granted. Companies are also restricted to a maximum of 2 delegates unless sponsoring or
unless special permission is granted – contact [email protected] if you wish to apply
for 3 or more passes or for an exception to our Director, VP or C-level rule.
Payment
Meetup Price
GBP £2,000 per person
Meetup + Workshop
GBP £2,500 per person
Discount Codes
Special rates are available for full time employees of towercos and operators ONLY. Contact [email protected] to request a
discount code.
Package Description
Package description: TowerXchange Subscription and Delegate Pass for Meetup Africa 2013. Package includes daytime catering,
participation in 4 round table sessions, after hours networking receptions. Package does NOT include accommodation or evening meals.
Discount Code:
Payment terms: Within 14 days of receipt of invoice, or in advance of the event, whichever comes first.
For BACS payment, please remit to:
Site Seven Media Ltd
Bank name: Lloyds TSB
Sort code: 30-90-89
Account number: 21593660
I agree to the terms of this registration
Register online now at http://bitly.com/18EXCSg
For IBAN payment, please remit to:
Site Seven Media Ltd
Bank name: Lloyds TSB
Swift /BIC: LOYDGB21256
IBAN: GB29 LOYD 3090 8921 5936 60
Date
The following terms and conditions apply:
< Site Seven Media reserves the right to refuse admission to
the event if full payment of the Registration Fee has not been
received.
< In the event of the Site Seven Media cancelling the
TowerXchange Meetup Africa 2013, the parties agree that Site
Seven Media will offer to transfer the registrant’s attendance
of the Event to an acceptable alternative event. If Site Seven
Media cannot offer an acceptable event, we will refund the
Registration Fee to the Client in full.
< Substitution policy: you may substitute subscribers
registered delegates for colleagues, as long as alternate
attendees are also Department Heads, Director, VP or C-level
Regrettably no cancellations can be accepted.
Special Feature:
Tanzania case
study
With the second major tower transaction in Tanzania
between Vodacom and Helios Towers Africa following
the sale of Tigo’s towers to the same entity; with
Zantel’s towers believed to be on the market; and
with Airtel having registered Africa Towers in the
country, Tanzania is fast becoming a model market for
infrastructure sharing.
As well as the tier one MNOs, several significant
tier two and ISP players exist as potential tenants,
including Smile who already offer LTE services in
major cities, hinting at potential amendment revenue
for towercos as LTE is more widely rolled out.
In this special feature, TowerXchange draws upon the
TCRA and the GSMA’s Green Power for Mobile East
Africa Market Analysis for contextual data, adds some
colour to the recent Helios Towers Africa transaction
in Tanzania in conversation with CFO Andres de
Orelans-Borbon, and speaks to NEWL, Tanzania’s
leading managed service provider.
Don’t miss:
41 Infrastructure sharing in Tanzania
43 HTA to acquire 1,149 towers from Vodacom
46 A view of Tanzania from the front lines
at NEWL
40 | TowerXchange Issue 5
| www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Case study: infrastructure
sharing in Tanzania
rolling out LTE, TTCL, BOL and Sasatel, as well
as active infrastructure sharing pioneers Rural
NetCo.
After Helios Towers Africa’s recent acquisition of 1,149 towers from Vodacom Tanzania,
TowerXchange thought it would be a good time to examine the tower market in Tanzania.
With operators seeking to expand beyond their
regionalised footprint, but the politics of tower
swaps complicated, Tanzania was an obvious
target for exponents of the independent towerco
model.
Helios Towers Africa acquired 1,180 towers
from Millicom-Tigo in 2011, and have reportedly
improved service levels. Helios Towers Africa
recently added the aforementioned 1,149 towers,
constituting the entire Vodacom Tanzania
network. Tigo and Vodacom are now minority
shareholders in Helios Towers Tanzania, owning
24.5% each. TowerXchange features an interview
with Helios Towers Africa CFO Andres de
Orleans-Borbon later in this special feature.
Reports suggest Zantel’s towers could be the next
portfolio to change hands in Tanzania, while
Airtel has registered an Africa Towers subsidiary
in the country.
Image: Luisa Puccini
The Tanzanian market evolved with a distinctly
regional pattern to network rollout, with each of
the four tier one MNOs (Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo and
Zantel) dominant in different regions. Market
leaders Vodacom are particularly strong in the
Arusha area, just behind them in market share
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
are Airtel, who are dominant in the Lake Zone,
while Tigo is strong in coastal areas and Zantel
are very strong in Zanzibar.
Tanzania also hosts several tier two, niche
operators and ISPs including Smile, which is
Tanzania looks set to become a keenly observed
example of how independent towercos can
accelerate infrastructure sharing, stablise and
improve opex, and support the extension of
networks into rural areas!
Tanzania market overview
The GSMA Green Power for Mobile Programme
published an excellent report which
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
41
1%
30%
Vodacom 34%
34%
24%
Airtel 30%
Tigo 24%
Zantel 11%
TTCL, Benson, Sasatel
and Smile make up 1%
31%
Source: TCRA, December 2012
TowerXchange recommends to our readers;
‘Powering Telecoms: East Africa Market Analysis’.
In the report, the GSMA size the Tanzanian market
as having 4,593 cell sites in Q3 2012, up from 3,671
in 2011, and forecast an increase in the number
of base stations to 5,474 by 2013. The same report
quantifies the number of subscribers in Tanzania
as 26.8m in 2012, with penetration of mobile
services at 62% and coverage at 75.8% of the
population.
According to the IEA, World Bank, urban
electrification is just 40% in Tanzania, and rural
electrification 2%. The 2009 Electricity Act set
a target to raise electrification to 30% of the
Tanzanian population by 2015.
The GSMA count 1,442 of Tanzania’s cell sites being
off-grid, with 30.7% of off-grid sites running DG
24x7, 65.5% running DG-battery hybrid, and just
56 sites (3.9%) classified as Green Power. 52% of
the remaining 3,151 on-grid sites were classified
as unreliable (receiving less than 6 hours of grid
power per day). As a result, diesel makes up 57% of
opex at on-grid sites in Tanzania
42 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Helios Towers Africa to acquire
1,149 towers from Vodacom Tanzania
TowerXchange presents an exclusive interview with Helios Towers Africa CFO
Andres de Orleans-Borbon
The big transaction this Summer in the African
tower industry was the announcement of Helios
Towers Africa’s intent to acquire 1,149 towers
from Vodacom Tanzania, in a deal valued between
US$50-100m in which Vodacom acquired a 24.5%
stake in Helios Towers Tanzania, which had
previously acquired 1,180 towers from MillicomTigo in the East African country. Helios Towers
Africa’s CFO Andres de Orleans-Borbon generously
took the time to speak to TowerXchange about the
deal.
Keywords: News, Sales & Leaseback, Build-To-Suit, 4G,
Interview, Deal Structure, Network Rollout, Execution
Risk, Pass-through, Densification, Decommissioning,
Private Equity, Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Tanzania,
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers Africa
Helios Towers Africa, Vodacom, Millicom, Tigo
Read this article to learn:
< The structure of Helios Towers Africa’s recent deal acquisition of 1,149 towers from Vodacom Tanzania
< The balance of cash release vs opex reduction in this deal
< The impact of LTE on the tower market
< The implications of this transaction for Zantel’s towers in Zanzibar
< How to navigate the risks of investment in emerging market towers
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Congratulations on Helios
Towers Africa’s deal with Vodacom Tanzania!
What was the rationale for the deal?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: Tower transactions are typically
motivated either by financial engineering or by
operating reasons. Emerging market operators
with successful international strategies like
Vodacom don’t need cash, so in this case the
motivation was operational.
Vodacom are the number one operator in
Tanzania, and they are investing in an important
network expansion. They needed access to most
of the infrastructure Helios Towers Africa owned
in Tanzania, and they needed a programme to
build a large number of new towers.
Vodacom and Vodafone are tenants on Helios
Towers in Tanzania, Ghana and the DRC, so
they knew they could rely on us to manage their
towers and to rollout new infrastructure. And
they liked the towerco platform and took a stake
in that platform - the deal includes Vodacom
acquiring a 24.5% equity in Helios Towers
Tanzania.
TowerXchange: What can you tell me about
the structure of the transaction and the
BTS programme? There are reports that the
acquisition price was US$75m - is that correct?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: The only guidance I can give you is that it
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
43
is within the US $50-100m range.
What I can tell you about the deal is that it’s a
long-term contract, that it includes all 1,149 of
Vodacom Tanzania’s existing towers, and that
it reduces Vodacom’s Total Cost of Ownership
in terms of the discount to opex plus the
maintenance capex. From a cash flow point of
view, the transaction releases immediate savings
for Vodacom.
All sites built under the build-to-suit (BTS)
programme will be, owned, managed and
marketed by Helios Towers Tanzania. All the
other operators have access and are interested in
the sites.
TowerXchange: Is there a power pass through
clause or does Helios Towers Tanzania take on
all the energy opex risk?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: There are many components to the deal,
but I can tell you that we take on the brunt of
the risk - if the grid fails, that is our problem, if
efficiency is improved, that is our gain.
Vodacom are convinced we can achieve
efficiencies, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken a
stake in the towerco.
When an operator retains a stake it incentivises
them to work with us as partners to ensure the
towerco is successful. For example, when we
44 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
might want to decommission one of two adjacent
HTT and Vodacom towers as both operators are
shareholders in the towercos, the discussion
is an easier one. Where operators buy into the
towerco, it suggests the deal is fair for all parties.
TowerXchange: With LTE being trialed and
rolled out in Tanzania, what’s the impact on
the tower market?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: The impact of LTE varies from country to
country. If LTE is rolled out at a higher frequency
than 2G and 3G, then operators will need to
densify their networks. If operators need higher
density, they don’t want to build new towers
and own every tower, so independent towercos
can fill the gaps in the network. Towercos need
new technologies being rolled out and new
technologies need towercos.
TowerXchange: Please introduce us to the
tower market in Tanzania.
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: There are four large operators in
Tanzania; Vodacom, Airtel, Millicom and Zantel.
The infrastructure can be broken down into three
pools of assets; Airtel own their towers, Zantel
own their towers and Helios Towers Tanzania
will own the towers that were the heritage of
Millicom and Vodacom. All three pools of towers
will likely be available to all operators in a
competitive market.
The other operators, Sasatel, TTCL, Benson, Smile
and Rural NetCo are all important customers
and will likely lease capacity on ours and other
operators’ towers.
TowerXchange: After the two transactions by
Millicom and Vodacom, is there still a market
for Zantel’s towers?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
Africa: Zantel is very strong in Zanzibar so their
tower assets have value. If Zantel want to sell,
we’ll talk to them.
This transaction doesn’t end Helios Towers
Africa’s appetite to own further infrastructure
in Tanzania and make it available to all mobile
operators.
In any market where towers have been
transferred from operator-captive to independent
towercos, there is still a market for towers in
unique locations. If towers for sale are located
right next to other towerco owned sites, they
might attract a reduced valuation, so there is an
advantage to being first movers.
TowerXchange: Finally Andres, as Helios
Towers Africa have been pioneering first
movers in African towers, what progress
has been made in demonstrating reduced
execution risk in what is still quite a new
African tower industry?
Andres de Orleans-Borbon, CFO, Helios Towers
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
“
Here’s the press release about the deal: Helios Towers Africa to partner with
Vodacom in Tanzania
It takes a certain type of
investor to be attracted to
opportunities in emerging
markets. While you can’t
take the risk out, towercos
are one of safest investments
in emerging markets
“
Africa: It takes a certain type of investor to be
attracted to opportunities in emerging markets.
While you can’t take the risk out, towercos are
one of safest investments in emerging markets.
You need to know what you’re doing to prosper
in emerging markets, so it’s important to choose
your management team very carefully.
Vodacom are smart investors - their international
business is doing very well. Millicom is a very
entrepreneurial operator. When two such
companies want a piece of your business, it’s a
huge vote of confidence in Helios Towers Africa
and in the emerging market tower industry
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Helios Towers Africa (HTA), the leading,
independent, telecoms towers company in Africa,
announces that its Tanzanian subsidiary, Helios
Towers Tanzania (“HTT” or “the Company”) has
reached an agreement with Vodacom Tanzania
Limited (“Vodacom”), Tanzania’s leading mobile
network operator to acquire 100% of its existing
tower network in the country for stock and cash in
Vodacom Group’s first ever towers transaction.
The partnership between HTT and Vodacom
involves the transfer of 1,149 existing telecoms
towers from Vodacom to HTT and a commitment
to an ambitious, short-term rollout which will see
a significant increase in points of service owned by
HTT and more than doubles HTT’s existing presence
in Tanzania.
Transaction highlights
< HTT acquires all of Vodacom’s existing passive
infrastructure and supplies Vodacom with a
significant increase in points of service in
Tanzania
< Vodacom to lease back the infrastructure subject
to a long term contract
< Pro forma for the acquisition, HTA will be
providing close to 2,700 points of service to
Vodacom and affiliates across Africa
The deal will expand HTA’s tower coverage in Africa
to 4,700 owned towers and is another example of
HTA partnering with an industry-leading mobile
network operator in Africa. This partnership model
is core to HTA’s offering.
By collaborating with its customers and being solely
focused on providing a telecoms infrastructure
solution, HTA helps its customers to achieve their
goals of reducing operating cost, preserving capital,
focusing on their core business, and mitigating
the proliferation of towers through infrastructure
sharing, as they expand network coverage and
capacity to meet demand and improve quality of
service.
The structure of the cash and shares transaction,
which involves Vodacom acquiring a 24.5% share in
HTT, also demonstrates the belief and confidence of
a leading African telecoms operator in the business
model of tower sharing and in the business model
and operational capabilities of HTA.
The transaction is subject to customary closing
conditions and regulatory approvals.
Chuck Green, Chief Executive Officer of HTA, added:
“HTA is proud to be chosen by Vodacom as its
partner for the ownership and management of its
existing infrastructure and as the solution provider
for its future roll out. This is a ground-breaking
move for Vodacom and their equity investment
is a significant endorsement of HTA’s reputation,
management team and operating track record”
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
45
A view of Tanzania from
the front lines of the market’s
leading managed service provider
How infrastructure sharing is creating economies of scale for NEWL and for their clients
Peter Kiloli and Ray O’Shea, NEWL
Keywords: Who’s Who,
Managed Services,
Leasing & Permitting,
O&M, Construction,
Installation, NOC, 4G,
Opex Reduction, Skilled
Workforces, Warehousing,
Infrastructure Sharing,
Africa, Tanzania, Malawi,
Airtel, Vodacom, Zantel,
Millicom-Tigo, NSN, Helios
Towers Africa, NEWL
NEWL (Northern Engineering Works Ltd) is the leading managed services company in Tanzania,
managing O&M for passive and active infrastructure at 2,100 tower sites in Tanzania across three
leading mobile operators. NEWL also has an operation in Malawi where they maintain 285 sites,
half of the Malawi Airtel network, on behalf of NSN. NEWL’s regional expansion plans are now at an
advanced stage, as well as plans to further extend their service portfolio with an objective of offering
end-to-end services including site design, build, installation, commissioning and maintenance.
Read this article to learn:
TowerXchange: Please introduce our readers to
NEWL
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
NEWL was registered as a company on 1987. Our
initial focus was on general engineering supplies
and services, and we had agreements with various
parastatals to maintain their vehicles. In 2000,
NEWL entered the telecoms market, and in 2001 we
commenced our first tower maintenance contract
with CelTel (now Airtel).
In the 21st century NEWL has diversified our
service portfolio to include site audits, tower
management services, installation, commissioning,
network field operations and maintenance, and
diesel refuelling.
NEWL services extend beyond passive
infrastructure to include the radio network - our
engineers have experience with multiple vendors’
equipment, we conduct network planning and
optimisation through benchmarking drive
tests, we’ve deployed in-building solutions and
network quality analyses. We have experience
of preventative and corrective maintenance,
on passive, active and field maintenance on
transmission equipment. We’ve deployed just about
every type of site from GSM and CDMA BTS to
microwave hops, MSC and BSCs.
< NEWL’s credentials proven by managing over 2,000 sites in Tanzania and Malawi
< How NEWL modify hybrid energy solutions to meet local requirements in Tanzania
< The progress of, and pent-up demand for, LTE in Tanzania
< A snapshot of the tower market in Malawi
46 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
NEWL has also undertaken many commercial grid
installations for Airtel. We’ve deployed 70% of their
grid-connected sites in Tanzania, deploying both HT
(high tension) and LT powerline installations.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
We manage equipment warehousing and logistics
in-house and maintain a fleet of trucks and cranes,
providing services to transport equipment to
remote regions of Tanzania and Malawi.
TowerXchange: What is NEWL’s footprint in
Africa?
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
We’re managing over 2,000 sites for Vodacom,
Airtel and Zantel in Tanzania, that’s roughly half of
each of their networks, making NEWL the largest
maintenance contractor in Tanzania.
We’re also managing over 280 sites in Malawi for
Airtel Malawi, about half their network, on behalf
of NSN.
Our headquarters is based in Arusha, Tanzania,
but we have local offices in every major city. Our
Malawi head office is in Lilongwe and we have a
sub office in Mzuzu.
NEWL are in the process of registering a business
in Kenya, with further plans for offices opening in
Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda, cementing our focus
on East and Central Africa.
TowerXchange: What has been the impact of
Helios Towers Africa entering the Tanzania
market, initially acquiring towers from Millicom
/ Tigo, and now also from Vodacom?
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
The entry of Helios Towers Africa into Tanzania
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
has had a big impact on our business. We have
been monitoring the progress of Helios Towers
Africa’s most recent transaction (in which HTA
acquired 1,149 towers from Vodacom Tanzania).
NEWL manage over 780 Vodacom sites at present,
so we are currently negotiating a new contract with
Helios Towers Tanzania (HTT) - we hope to continue
serving those sites under HTT, and we’re working
hard towards achieving that, and are keen to meet
the key stakeholders at the TowerXchange Meetup.
good news. There has been substantial pressure to
improve operator margins and to reduce opex costs.
That has impacted us directly. The towerco model
has the advantage of co-locations, concentrating
more tenants per site, making it easier to manage
operations. NEWL are developing innovative
operations models to deal with the towerco business
model.
TowerXchange: How does tower sharing enable
economies of scale?
The entry of towercos into the Tanzanian market is
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
47
“
Where once we had dedicated teams
for each operator, and field engineers
spent a large proportion of their
time on the road, now our model is
regional, with each local team looking
after a cluster of 20-25 towers for a
mix of operators
“
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL: In
the five years I’ve been in Tanzania the structure
of our business has changed. Where once we
had dedicated teams for each operator, and field
engineers spent a large proportion of their time on
the road, now our model is regional, with each local
team looking after a cluster of 20-25 towers for a
mix of operators.
Competitive pressure and reducing ARPU means
operators need to reduce opex, and we can
help them create efficiencies and cost savings.
HTT’s shared towers leads to efficiencies for all
stakeholders, saving wear and tear and diesel
consumption within our fleet, which is one of our
biggest costs.
TowerXchange: What are the logistical
challenges of rolling out new towers in
Tanzania?
48 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL:
Tanzania is a huge country, the size of France and
Germany combined, with a limited road network,
so it’s important to unlock operational efficiencies.
Many of the cell sites follow the main road
backbone, but an increasing number of sites are
being built in populated areas that are not so well
served by road network.
of Pickups, to maintain access infrastructure,
including power, and active equipment. We manage
security at some sites too. NEWL has strict SLAs
with KPIs with our clients, and must attend each
site within 1-3 hours, depending on level of that site.
NEWL’s local teams of technicians use our fleet
of 4x4’s, usually Land Cruisers or similar types
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL:
The grid in Tanzania is currently not stable, and
TowerXchange: Tell us about the energy
solutions deployed at Tanzania’s cell sites.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
“
been working with international companies on how
to adapt their systems to Tanzania.
We think there is huge pent-up
demand for mobile broadband
in Tanzania. Most of the callouts
we get are from mining areas
and other resource rich areas. If
LTE comes reaches such regions,
uptake will be huge
“
at times can be quite poor. There were periods last
year when sites had 18 hours per day without grid
power, even in the main cities. This has driven an
increasing interest in hybrid energy.
NEWL has particular expertise in the rollout of
hybrid and solar systems. These hybrid systems
are being shipped in from all over the world, but
often without any local expertise to modify them
to the specific requirements of different locations
in Tanzania. For example, we’ve often found that
alarms and reporting systems require configuration
so as not to cause confusion and ultimately prevent
hybrid from delivering the expected efficiencies.
NEWL have built up a team of technicians with
solar and hybrid solutions expertise, who can get
to grips with these systems very quickly, and we’ve
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What has been the impact of LTE
so far in Tanzania?
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
To date, LTE has been deployed mostly in big cities
such as Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza. Smile
are targeting business users, and NEWL uses Smile
in our own office in Dar es Salaam. Smile planning
to launch in Arusha in October this year. NEWL
have been part of the LTE Vodacom trial team,
providing drive test services.
Tanzania’s data network is serviced largely through
the National Fibre Backbone at present, and can
be a bit restrictive due to the monopoly, so we’re
eagerly awaiting LTE. We think there is huge pentup demand for mobile broadband in Tanzania.
Most of the callouts we get are from mining areas
and other resource rich areas. If LTE comes reaches
such regions, uptake will be huge.
TowerXchange: Tanzania is a very regionalised
market - will infrastructure sharing transform
the regionalised structure of the market?
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
Tanzania is indeed a very regionalised market each operator has more subscribers in a particular
region, and seemed not to have immediate plans to
expand aggressively into other regions, although
Vodacom and Airtel have a presence across all
regions.
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL: In
the last 2-3 years there has been substantial bilateral tower sharing even without towercos.
Airtel are in the process of transferring their
Tanzanian towers to their local Africa Towers
subsidiary. Tigo have been strong in cities and have
particularly targeted the youth market - students
and universities. Vodacom have been in expansion
mode, building new sites aggressively. And of
course they recently sold their towers to HTT, who
will help with their network expansion. Zantel are
looking at similar options with their network.
TowerXchange: Please introduce us to the
telecom industry and to the tower market in
Malawi.
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
There are two leading operators in Malawi. Airtel
are market leaders, then you have TNM, the stateowned operator (in whioch Vodacom have been
rumoured to be interested in purchasing a share),
and a couple of operators so small that they don’t
even outsource O&M.
We recently met the Malawi Communications
Director General at an ICT Summut, and he
confirmed that there were no major changes
expected in the Malawi telecom tower market apart
from the registration of Airtel’s Africa Towers.
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL:
Airtel Malawi dominate with 80-85% market share.
There are around 500 towers in total in Malawi,
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
49
and even though the the country is challenged
economically, the number of mobile subscribers is
growing substantially.
TowerXchange: Finally, how do NEWL
differentiate your company from other managed
service providers?
Peter Kiloli, Business Development Manager, NEWL:
Over the last five years NEWL has differentiated
ourselves through our efficient operational model,
which makes us very attractive to operators and to
services providers like NSN.
As we see the transition of towers from operatorcaptive to independent towercos, we see an
opportunity to manage more sites, to create more
efficiencies through our cost saving models, and this
will allow us to pass on more value to the customer.
NEWL is a one stop shop for managed services - we
don’t subcontract - we cover the whole supply chain
from leasing, permitting, installation, O&M all the
way to warehousing and logistics.
For quick rollouts, NEWL is the partner of choice.
Ray O’Shea, Head of Projects & Strategy, NEWL:
NEWL is a private company and the management
team get full support of our principal, which means
we’re able to make quick decisions.
We have a strong mix of locals and international on
the management team, supported by local engineers
and technicians and we continue to develop local
50 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
NEWL MD Samwel S. Lema received the International Arch of Europe Award
engineering skills by formalising our relationship
with local technical colleges, giving them guidance
on courses and taking in interns and trainees.
Those colleges are now better connected to what the
industry wants, and they’re turning out mechanical,
telecommunications and electrical engineers and
technicians at with a high level of skills.
We are serious about H&S and about investing
in new technologies and management systems,
for example we have recently completed the
installation of a tracking system in our fleet.
Five years ago there were probably 25
subcontractors competing in Tanzania, but pressure
on prices has whittled that down to four large,
strong players, of which NEWL is the market leader,
plus five or size smaller players.
Managing towers in Tanzania is like a military
operation with a 24-hour system. We learn from
the last 24 hours and focus on the next 24 hours.
Success comes from structuring our business and
our NOC to manage the little crises that are going on
all the time
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Special Feature:
Towerco
perspectives - the
“Frontiersmen”
In this latest installment of ‘Towerco perspectives’,
TowerXchange introduces readers to two of the new, niche
towercos focusing on smaller markets that can fall ‘below
the radar’ of the Big Four.
We introduce you to Laurent Roineau, General Manager
at Towerco of Madagascar, formed in late 2011 after a sale
and leaseback deal with TELMA. Learn how this startup
towerco adapted to the challenging tropical climate in
Madagascar, and how growth is being fuelled by BTS and
broadband transmission projects for PICOM, funded by the
World Bank. We also speak to Chris Lundh, COO of Frontier
Tower Solutions, whose experience managing towers in
conflict zones in Afghanistan and Iraq gives them a unique
appetite for managing towers in high risk markets.
Finally we talk to one of the original pioneers on the
frontiers of the African tower industry, Keith Boyd, who
has been running African towercos since 2002. These days,
Keith heads up Eaton’s organic market entry strategy in
South Africa, and he shares some interesting views on the
potential future of MTN, Vodacom and Telkom’s shareable
structures in SA.
Don’t miss:
54 Case study: TowerCo of Madagascar
59 FTS on how to manage towers in high risk markets
64 The future of South Africa’s telecom towers
52 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Energy & Fuel Optimization &
Monitor and Control
Operation Optimization
Invendis, does it…
End$to$End$Remote$Tower$Infra$
Monitoring$Solu6on
$www.invendis.com$
Smart&Energy&Monitoring&&&Management&&
• Precise&Energy&Monitoring&with&easy&billing&
• Power&Source&Op;misa;on&with&built&in&rule&engines&and&remote&control&
op;on&
• Hybrid&swapping&of&power&sources:&Grid&Power&A&Solar&/&Wind&A&Generator&A&
BaEery&
• Reports&on&power&source&u;lisa;on&
Monitor&&&Control&Towers&elements&on&a&click&&
• Control&Generator,&Aircondi;oner&in&sites&at&the&click&of&a&buEon&
• Smart&rule&engine&built&into&the&hardware&controlls&the&tower&elements&on&
demand&basis&
• Site&Environmental&Parameters&Monitoring&
Monitor&and&Save&Fuel;&Get&Alerts&on&fuel&theO&and&filling&&
• Con;nuous&real&;me&fuel&level&monitoring&in&sites&
• Alerts&for&fuel&pilferage&and&fuel&filling&&
• Reports&on&fuel&consump;on&of&generator&in&sites&
• Smart&rule&Engines&will&op;mise&the&usage&of&Generator&enhancing&the&fuel&
efficiency&
Invendis
Invent, Discover.
Site&Alarm&Monitoring,&Site&Security&Monitoring&and&Site&
Access&Monitoring&
• Alarm&monitoring&with&&email&and&SMS&no;fica;on&to&concerned&team&
• Shelter&Access&informa;on&&no;fica;on&
• Smart&Mo;on&Sensor&to&detect&undesirable&movements&in&site&
• Get&Alarm&no;fica;on&through&SMS&and&Email&
Case study: the launch and
expansion of TowerCo of Madagascar
Selling urban co-locations and building sites with five days of autonomy in
deep rural locations battered by tropical cyclones
Laurent Roineau joined incumbent fixed line operator
TELMA as CTO shortly after privatisation at the end of 2006,
launching Madagascar’s third mobile network, rolling out
250 GSM sites and upgrading others wireless transmission
technologies (satellite and microwave). Laurent subsequently
became deputy CEO at Electricity of Madagascar, where he
re-organised the maintenance of passive infrastructure, before
becoming General Manager of TowerCo of Madagascar in
November 2011.
Keywords: Who’s Who, TowerXchange Meetup Preview,
Towercos, Sale & Leaseback, 3G, Capex, Opex Reduction, Batteries,
Urban vs Rural, Network Rollout, Build-to-suit, Business Model,
Off-grid, Solar, Wind, Logistics, Private Equity, C-level Perspective,
RMS, Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Madagascar, Africa Towers,
Airtel, Orange, TELMA, PICOM, World Bank, TowerCo of
Madagascar
Read this article to learn:
< What capabilities are managed in-house and what is outsourced by a new towerco
< The impact of the political and related economical crisis on 3G broadband deployment in Madagascar
< Why renewable energy solutions have been deployed using a capex rather than opex model
< How TowerCo of Madagascar monitors and maximises cell site autonomy to ensure continued
availability during the tropical rainy season
< The role of TowerCo of Madagascar in a consortium funded by the World Bank to extend rural access
and transmission infrastructure
54 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please tell us about the evolution
of TowerCo of Madagascar.
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: TowerCo of Madagascar is financed by
two major private equity shareholders. We setup
the company processes, and led the recruitment
of most of our 30 employees. We acquired 50 sites
in late 2011 via a sale and leaseback transaction
with incumbent operator TELMA. Transferring
the towers to an independent towerco created the
opportunity to develop co-location services for a
portfolio of mostly urban towers, with the potential
to achieve high tenancy ratios.
So TowerCo of Madagascar was not a green field
operation, but we subsequently have ongoing
exploitation and build-to-suit activities to setup new
sites for TELMA and have nationwide co-location
contracts with Airtel, Orange, Gulfsat and several
broadcasters to develop usage of the portfolio.
We rolled an out 50 additional sites in 2012, taking
our current tower count to 100 at the end of 2012,
and in the next 18 months will rollout over 100
more sites. Those additional towers consist of an
order for 32 additional build-to-suit sites for one
operator, as well as two projects in which TowerCo
of Madagascar is working in consortiums for
PICOM with World Bank funding; one to build 21
sites in the southeast of the country, and another
to build, operate and own broadband transmission
infrastructure between Tulear and Mahajanga, for
traffic collection and potential connection with two
submarine cable landings.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
54
Operator sites inventory in 2013
Madagascar market overview
400
Airtel
29%
Airtel
40%
Orange Madagascar
300
TELMA Mobile
TELMA
Orange
TowerCo of Madagascar
200
31%
100
Population: 22m
Mobile penetration: 29%
Electrification: 5% of rural population have access to
electricity
Source: GSMA
TowerXchange: What are the core capabilities
managed in-house by TowerCo of Madagascar,
and what is outsourced?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo
of Madagascar: We have three core activities;
the promotion and sale of capacity on our
infrastructure sites, the rollout of new build-to-suit
sites, and the quality monitoring and optimisation
of power consumption. We also have support
functions in finance and in legal, for customers and
suppliers.
The breakdown of capex for a new site is typically
60% infrastructure, 40% energy. TowerCo of
Madagascar are pushing a power saving approach
with our operator partners, enabling us to offer
lower cost lease rates and reduce our own capex
55 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Operator sites inventory in 2013
Source: TowerCo of Madagascar
and opex. While 97% of the initial 50 sites we
acquired from TELMA were connected to the grid,
many of our new build-to-suit sites, including those
funded by the World Bank, are in isolated rural
areas where we’ve deployed solar and some wind
power with a longer term payback, and agreed a
different fee structure with the operators.
TowerXchange: It sounds like TowerCo of
Madagascar almost has two business models - an
urban business with a relatively conventional
tenancy leasing business model, and a rural
business extending coverage and transmission.
How does the management of those portfolios
differ?
While TowerCo of Madagascar uses in-house project
managers to oversee the acceptance of sites, site
deployment is 100% subcontracted. We think it’s
important to ensure a high level of externalisation
of non-core activities, but if an activity is not done
correctly by a subcontractor, we internalise it.
Exploitation is 95% externalised with KPI close
monitoring - TowerCo of Madagascar maintain a
procurement and performance management role to
ensure best in class service delivery.
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo
of Madagascar: We have three distinct strategic
approaches - one for urban towers, one for rural
build-to-suit sites and a third for the sites we’re
building as part of the consortium funded by the
World Bank.
Our urban strategy is affected by the current
political crisis in Madagascar, which has meant
investment in 3G broadband has mostly been
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
55
capex. We have internal framing protection rules
and are cautious to protect the confidentiality of our
customers.
Whenever we setup a site with a real co-location
opportunity, the initial structural design has
capacity for the equipment of two operators, but the
energy systems are adapted to the requirements of
just the first tenant, typically with a small margin of
+20% to ensure flexible “time to market” capacity
expansion for the tenant.
delayed. For now we are largely meeting our
clients’ needs using our existing infrastructure
- less than 5% of our new site rollout is in urban
areas. However, with the international community
pushing for elections before the end of this year,
this may unfreeze economic development and
broadband requirements. With the expertise
TowerCo of Madagascar has developed in colocation sales, multiple technologies and the
optimisation of site infrastructure utilisation and
power usage, we’ll be well placed to catch wave of
new site requirements for 3G.
56 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
When managing our rural build-to-suit programme,
it’s important to only setup new sites where there is
full potential for co-location. We never setup a site
when there is any concurrence in location. If one of
our client operators requires a site at a certain grid
reference, if there’s an existing site between 200m
and 3000m from that proposed new site, then the
existing site is raised to the customer as having the
potential to accept their tenancy.
It is a delicate balance to encourage co-operation
and tower sharing between operators to optimise
Our third strategic approach helps us optimise the
deployment of public and World Bank funds. The
structural and energy capacity of sites built under
our World Bank contract are defined by a Public
Private Partnership agreement. The agency that
manages the project is called Projet d’Infrastructure
de Communication pour Madagascar (PICOM), and
we bid for the infrastructure part of a tender that
they issued as part of a consortium together with
construction company Camusat and Madagascar’s
three leading operators, Orange, Airtel and TELMA.
With the three operators engaged, we are able to
anticipate the needs of those operators and avoid
building sites that might remain unused, and we’re
able to consolidate revenue generated from these
rural and deep sites to get the right equilibrium of
capex, opex and lease rate pricing.
TowerXchange: How do you select and finance
energy solutions for off-grid sites?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: So far we’ve used a capex model for
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
56
the rollout of energy solutions, rather than using
an opex or ESCO model. We are trying to optimise
procurement, managing an integrated “home made”
scheme but mixing suppliers to achieve the best
solution technically and economically. Our batteries
come from Europe, our regulation systems come
from electric power equipment suppliers, and our
PV usually comes from an efficient and reliable
supplier in Asia, and it’s all 100% fully certified in
terms of IEC requirements.
The reason we’ve used a conventional capex
model for energy is because the current economic
situation in Madagascar means local financing is
“
TowerCo of Madagascar expansion plan
400
300
Sites
200
Contracts
100
Start of 2012
End of 2012
not easy to find and is expensive, so leased solutions
for energy will incur substantial financing costs.
Madagascar is typically hit by one
to three cyclones per year. As a
result, for sites within 60-80km of
the shore, we have specific rules
to build heavy-duty, strong civil
works, steel structures and solar
arrays to ensure availability and
security. We install a big bank of
backup batteries to ensure at least
five days of site autonomy
“
57 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
We monitor each solution to measure the return on
capex capital deployed and to optimise opex - when
you put heavy capex into solar, usually the opex
is low. Maintenance is 100% subcontracted, with
different fee schedules depending on distance to the
site.
TowerXchange: How does the tropical climate in
Madagascar affect your operations?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: The climate presents significant
logistical challenges in Madagascar. During the
rainy season, it can take five days to reach deep
rural sites, as roads are of poor quality and
degrading further.
End of 2013
End of 2014
As the fourth largest island in the world with a
tropical climate on the coastlines, Madagascar is
typically hit by one to three cyclones per year. As
a result, for sites within 60-80km of the shore, we
have specific rules to build heavy-duty, strong civil
works, steel structures and solar arrays to ensure
availability and security. We install a big bank of
backup batteries to ensure at least five days of site
autonomy.
It’s important to have efficient site monitoring
of diesel tanks, battery capacity, battery storage,
power usage et cetera. We maintain a central server
to monitor and calculate the autonomy of each
site each day, and we monitor weather forecasts
to anticipate heavy rain periods so we can boost
battery capacity in advance, and manage potential
predictive refueling on genset equipped sites.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
57
TowerXchange: Does TowerCo of Madagascar
have any international ambitions?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: Yes my shareholders wants to go into
other operations. We’re evaluating opportunities
and are open-minded.
TowerXchange: Finally, how would you sum up
TowerCo of Madagascar’s value proposition?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: We are proud of the quality of our colocation services to our customers. We are able to
undertake deep analyses of customer requirements
and advise on optimisation. If an operator wants
1000W of capacity and I can show how he can use
just 800W, it might mean less lease revenue for my
business, but it also means less opex and enables us
to secure a trusted relationship with that operator.
We operate a lean tower company, keeping a
good ratio of services delivered to the number of
employees. As a Frenchman, I have to conclude
with an “Asterix druid” reference - TowerCo of
Madagascar tries to be a magical potion to ensure
reliability and strong customer relationships.
TowerXchange: Has Airtel starting up their own
towerco had much effect yet in Madagascar?
Laurent Roineau, General Manager, TowerCo of
Madagascar: Airtel has launched Madagascar
Towers here, and they seem to be operational.
They seem to be concentrating on supporting
58 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Airtel’s rollout at the moment, rather than pushing
the promotion of other services. We will work
constrictively with Madagascar Towers - each time
Madagascar Towers is rolling out where we plan to
install our infrastructure, we have a discussion to
match operating requirements and to finalise which
towerco will set up the infrastructure.
Laurent Roineau will be presenting a case study
on the launch and future strategies of TowerCo of
Madagascar at the TowerXchange Meetup, taking
place on October 1 and 2 in Johannesburg. For full
details of the event, visit:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
58
How to manage towers in
high risk markets
Frontier Tower Solutions have built and manage over 1,200 towers in Afghanistan and
Iraq - and are now focused on deals in East Africa and the Americas
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS
Keywords: Who’s Who, Meetup
Preview, Towercos, Investment,
Build-to-Suit, New Market
Entrant, Country Risk, Conflict
Zone, Sale & Leaseback, C-level
Perspective, Infrastructure
Sharing, Africa, Americas (South),
Middle East, Burundi, Suriname,
French Guyana, Guyana, Bolivia,
Afghan Wireless, Frontier Tower
Solutions
Frontier Tower Solutions are appropriately named. Over the last year CEO Montgomery Simus and COO
Chris Lundh have built a towerco with a unique appetite for acquiring, building and operating towers in
frontier markets: they have experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, two of the toughest parts of the world,
and they are closing in on opportunities in Africa and South America. FTS focus on tower markets that are
largely off the radar screen for other towercos, either because they are believed to be too small, or because
the market is considered too risky. TowerXchange met Chris Lundh on his way out to Nairobi.
Read this article to learn:
< FTS’s proven credentials managing 1,200 towers in high risk markets
< The ownership of and investment opportunities in FTS
< How FTS maintain neutrality in conflict zones
< Partnering with local communities for on-site security
< Current opportunities FTS are exploring in Burundi, Suriname, French Guyana, Guyana and Bolivia
59 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: First, please introduce us to
yourself. What’s your personal background in
emerging market telecoms Chris?
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: I have over twenty years
of experience working with high profile MNOs and
ISPs in Africa and South America, starting in the
Democratic Republic of Congo as Managing Director
of Telecel, then the first mobile network operator
in Africa. I also held Managing Director or CEO
roles with Africa Online in Kenya and Tanzania,
Rwandatel in Rwanda, and with Nuevatel in Bolivia.
Prior to working with FTS, I most recently spent two
years in Afghanistan as Deputy Managing Director
with Afghan Wireless.
TowerXchange: Please introduce our readers to
Frontier Tower Solutions (FTS).
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: FTS is a leading owner,
operator, and developer of broadcast and cell sites
in emerging high-growth markets in the Middle
East, North and East Africa, Central Asia, South
America and the Caribbean.
While FTS is a young company, operating as an
independent entity for just over one year now,
we grew out of our own experience building,
operating, and maintaining more than 900 towers
in Afghanistan for more than a decade for our
MNO “sister” company, Afghan Wireless. We are
proven in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and have taken
our experience as an operator and leveraged our
160+ dedicated network rollout personnel and
strong supplier relationships to explore projects
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
59
worldwide. As our name suggests, we are very
comfortable building and managing towers in
austere locations. That is our core expertise so we
are looking to operate in some of the most underserved and challenging regions of the world,
engaging in active and passive infrastructure
outsourcing (tower sale and leaseback), structural
engineering, network design, transmission and RF
planning, and site development / build out activities
for mobile network operators.
Our main focus thus far has been structuring
tower sale and leaseback opportunities, with
colocation agreements in place pending final tower
acquisition, in East Africa and Bolivia (the anchor
market for our South American “cluster’), and we
are now in the process of finalising investor interest
in these projects. FTS is also soon to open regional
client support and technical service centers in
Nairobi, Kenya and La Paz, Bolivia.
TowerXchange: What is the ownership of FTS?
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: FTS is U.S. corporation
wholly owned by an American ownership group
with MNO operator experience. Because of the
smaller numbers of towers in transactions we
typically bid for, we’re still self-funded, but we are
presently in discussions with investors regarding
several specific project finance opportunities and
have also been approached by others looking to
invest at the overall FTS holding group level. We
are happy to explore either but, initially, have been
setting the projects up as market-specific investment
opportunities.
60 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Because of FTS’ “frontier market” focus, we’ve
also attracted interest from certain types of
international, development and institutional
investors whose mandates include very dynamic,
emerging markets. For example South Sudan is a
key priority for OPIC funding (“Overseas Private
Investment Corporation”, the US government’s
development finance institution) so, if we were to
proceed with a project in that market, we would
definitely explore this type of potential access to US
government financing and a degree of political risk
cover.
Our CEO Montgomery Simus handles the financial
side of the business. Monty is a Yale and Harvard
graduate with more than two decades of experience
with leading technology, telecommunications,
financial services, and energy corporations, and
he has experience in building and obtaining
finance for technology/telecommunications startups, holding accountability for P&L management,
and developing and deploying technology-related
services for new emerging markets worldwide. He
has spent significant time with various MNO and
broadband service provider initiatives through our
“sister” organisation in Afghanistan and also lived
in Kenya earlier in his professional career.
TowerXchange: How are the operational norms
of building and managing towers affected when
you’re operating in high risk markets, such as
conflict regions?
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: We rely on local knowledge
and expertise and try to use people from the
Yakatoot, AWCC’s facility on the outskirts of Kabul
neighboring villages or the area to assist in
the physical construction of sites and towers.
Additionally, we prefer to use in many cases the
same local people as the backbone of our on-site
security. This generally provides better results than
high walls and razor wire!
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
60
We’re used to political risk - we eat this stuff for
breakfast! There aren’t many environments in
which it’s more challenging to manage towers than
Afghanistan. For example, we lost 25 towers in
Afghanistan to the Taliban last year.
TowerXchange: So how does it work in practice,
for example do you need a military escort when
installing or maintaining towers in conflict
regions?
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: No. In some ways a military
escort is exactly what you don’t want when building
and maintaining towers in conflict zones. It’s
important to be neutral and focus on our mission
which is Connecting Communities, Building
Markets. Ultimately it’s in everyone’s interests to
extend communications, and we want to foster that
sense of community partnership in the markets in
which we operate. We have our own people and
“
There aren’t many environments
in which it’s more challenging to
manage towers than Afghanistan.
For example, we lost 25 towers
in Afghanistan to the Taliban last
year
“
61 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
selected partners who we send into the field of
course, but we’ll never take a chance with the lives
of our employees or contractors.
Political risk is another challenge. We think a
strong, transparent government can be helpful if
they have a will to attract international investment
in infrastructure. But you don’t want a government
to be so strong that there is a risk that they could
simply seize assets.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the opportunity
FTS are working on in East Africa.
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: We’re presently focused on
opportunities in Burundi and in South Sudan.
We got to know the Aga Khan Foundation through
their work with universities, hospitals and clinics in
Afghanistan. Through East Africa Telecom, the Aga
Khan Foundation is starting up new mobile network
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
61
“
We’re exploring an opportunity
to acquire 43 towers, and
operate a build-to-suit
programme, with Lacell, East
Africa Telecom’s subsidiary in
Burundi
“
operators in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.
We’re exploring an opportunity to acquire 43
towers, and operate a build-to-suit programme,
with Lacell, East Africa Telecom’s subsidiary in
Burundi. There are five active licensed operators in
Burundi, although none has more than 180 towers.
3G has been rolled out by Econet and by U-Com /
Leo, the old Telecel business that was recently sold
by Vimpelcom to Niel Telecom. There’s also Africell,
Onatel and Lacell.
We think there are more pros than cons about the
Burundi market, including real tourist potential.
We are exploring a similar sized opportunity in
South Sudan, a very low-density market. There
is limited geographical coverage in South Sudan
- the tower count is in the low hundreds - and
62 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
the challenges of logistics, security, and distance
remind us of some of things we had to overcome in
Afghanistan.
We are currently establishing partner relationships
with local specialists in specialists in building and
maintaining tower infrastructure in Africa, and
also developing energy partnerships for diesel
generators and hybrid equipment.
TowerXchange: What can you tell us about FTS’
interest in Latin America?
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: Outside of the very
large markets such as Brazil, Colombia, Chile,
and Argentina, we have believe that there are a
number of compelling tower opportunities in South
America, and strong potential for upside when
towers are migrated from operator-captive to third
party towercos.
We’ve been examining opportunities in markets
such as Suriname, French Guyana and Guyana three adjacent but very different markets - as well
as Bolivia. Populations in the former countries are
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
62
“
Our niche/expertise is smaller,
“frontier” or very dynamic postconflict markets that may not
normally appeal to bigger tower
companies, or markets with tower
portfolios too small to be worth
larger towerco’s due diligence to
acquire
Unexploded RPG round wired to base strut of a tower
concentrated along a coastal strip, where there is
grid power, but inland most sites are off-grid. High
towers are required to overlook the jungle.
tower companies, or markets with tower portfolios
too small to be worth larger towerco’s due diligence
to acquire.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up what role
you see FTS playing in the emerging market
tower industry compared to other towercos?
Having grown out of a GSM operator’s background,
FTS acutely understands what it takes to build,
maintain, fuel, and service large numbers of towers
in austere environments. We bring a MNO mindset
first, keeping our operational experience as a large
scale MNO as the main criterion for successful
service delivery to our customers versus that of a
Chris Lundh, COO, FTS: Our niche/expertise is
smaller, “frontier” or very dynamic post-conflict
markets that may not normally appeal to bigger
63 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
“steel, rigging & power” mentality.
Our business model - true to our name - is focused
around building “clusters” of infrastructure in
challenging but high-growth markets in two
expanding primary locations: East Africa and South
America.
FTS does not harbor ambitions to take on global
passive infrastructure sale and leaseback operators
in developed or mature markets; rather, we prefer
to work with MNOs who share our understanding
of the challenges and potential presented by such
relatively young, dynamic and “frontier” markets.
Frontier Tower Solutions will be hosting a round
table on “How to manage towers in high risk
markets” at the TowerXchange Meetup. Visit:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
63
The future of
South Africa’s telecom towers
Eaton Towers’ organic growth success story in South Africa hints at the long
runway of growth in less mature SSA tower markets
Keith Boyd is a 13-year veteran of the African tower industry
having served first as a Director at Plessey then as CEO of
Venture Communications, later acquired by DPI and merged
with Eaton Towers. Keith is now Managing Director of Eaton’s
business in South Africa, and he’s kindly agreed to host the
South African market round table at the TowerXchange
Meetup, taking place on October 1 and 2 in Johannesburg. By
way of a preview of that round table, TowerXchange caught up
with Keith to ask his views on the South African tower market.
Keith Boyd, MD, Eaton Towers Africa
Keywords: TowerXchange Meetup Preview, Towercos, 4G,
Capex, Deal Structure, Opex Reduction, Tenancy Ratios,
Market Forecasts, Business Model, Densification, Leasing
& Permitting, Regulation, Rooftops, Organic Market Entry,
Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, South Africa, Vodacom, MTN,
Cell C, Telkom, Internet Solutions, Neotel, American Tower,
Eaton Towers
Read this article to learn:
< Insights into the market share and tower strategies of South Africa’s four leading operators
< Quantifying the potential growth of the African tower market; forecasting a trebling of PoS in
10 years
< Why Eaton Towers’ organic market entry strategy is working
< Thoughts on the potential future of MTN, Vodacom and Telkom’s shareable structures
< The implications of South African operators’ proven appetite for independent towers for less
mature markets in SSA
64 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Thanks for speaking to us today
Keith and for hosting the South African market
round table at the TowerXchange Meetup. Please
introduce our readers to the South African
market.
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers
South Africa: In South Africa, latest figures seem to
show that Vodacom has around 45% market share,
MTN 37%, Cell C is up to 16%, and Telkom Mobile
(formerly 8ta) has 1-2%. Vodacom and MTN are
very successful, cash rich operators. Telkom Mobile
would appear to have a difficult road ahead, but
they have options as the mobile arm of the fixed
line operator Telkom. Cell C are within reach of
becoming a sustainable, self-funding operator.
Cell C, which recently benefitted from a US$350m
injection of equity from parent company Oger
Telecom, are pushing for asymmetrical call
termination rates, or to have call termination
rates dropped from their current level of R0.56
(about 6 US cents) to nearer to 2 US cents. It
will be interesting to see how the Independent
Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA)
views their request given the recent pricing
competition from newer entrants Cell C and Telkom
Mobile.
About half of each of MTN and Vodacom’s
subscribers are ‘data active’, and data usage is
nearly trebling annually, increasing 193% last year
according to MTN, driven by data bundle price
reductions, and the uptake of smart phones.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
64
Vodafone
MTN
Cell C
Telkom Mobile
The context of tower rollouts and
rumoured M&A activity in South Africa
Cell C are rolling out aggressively and currently
have around 4,000 sites in South Africa. Speculation
continues about potential M&A activity, either the
consolidation of Cell C and Telkom Mobile, or the
potential market entry of Airtel through acquisition.
In the tower market, American Tower acquired
1,400 sites from Cell C in 2010, in a deal structured
to release cash. American Tower is currently
marketing 1,629 sites in South Africa, of which just
over 1,000 are greenfield sites.
Recent press speculation seems to indicate that MTN
South Africa are in the later stages of agreeing a
tower deal with American Tower. MTN has already
established partnerships with American Tower in
Uganda and Ghana, in both cases MTN retained
49% equity in the local towerco. MTN are estimated
to have over 3,500 towers in South Africa, with a
presence on another 2,000 sites.
65 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: Whereas SIM penetration in most of SubSaharan Africa (SSA) is around 50-85%, there are
70m subscribers in South Africa, representing 115%
SIM penetration. Dual-simming is not as common
as elsewhere in SSA, but anecdotally I do see an
increasing number of people with more than one
mobile device, whether it be a dongle for their
laptop, a tablet or a business and personal phone.
When Eaton Towers first started looking at South
Africa, we wondered if the market had matured
beyond the point at which a towerco would
have a significant opportunity for growth. So we
commissioned two independent consulting firms
to prepare a report on the future expected demand
for towers, and PoS (Points of Service). The levels
of growth in demand for PoS they forecasted were
surprisingly high. Both reports - although utilizing
slightly different approaches - came to a similar
conclusion, while our own conversations with key
market stakeholders painted a similar picture.
When we conducted these studies in the second half
of 2011, there were just under 15,000 greenfield
towers in South Africa, with 25,000 PoS in total
including the towers plus DAS, rooftops, lamp posts
et cetera. That was forecast to treble to just under
75,000 PoS in 9-10 years, with the bulk of the growth
in the next 5-6 years. We knew if we could capture
just 10% of the market growth, that would be a good
business to have. With an increasing preference
“
“
TowerXchange: Would you characterise South
Africa as a mature telecoms market?
Market share, South Africa
a 3:1 growth ratio suggested an
opportunity to secure 1.6-1.7
tenants per tower relatively
quickly
for infrastructure sharing to avoid spending capital
on ‘poles and holes’, a 3:1 growth ratio suggested
an opportunity to secure 1.6-1.7 tenants per tower
relatively quickly.
TowerXchange: So how has Eaton Towers’ South
African business evolved since your initial
market studies?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: We realised we couldn’t control the timing
of when South Africa’s existing operators sold their
towers, but we could control an organic market
entry by building our own towers, which is what we
decided to do at the end of 2011.
We spent 2012 acquiring, permitting and developing
sites, signing up operator contracts and tenancy
agreements, and have an expansion plan through
2013-17. Demand has been higher than we
expected, and the average number of tenants on
Eaton’s towers in South Africa are higher than in
our original assumptions and business plan. Now
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
65
it’s simply an issue of getting to scale in the next
year and more.
To date, we’ve acquired approximately 400 sites,
and fully permitted more than half of those.
Permitting can take 9-18 months in South Africa, so
you can’t build 1,000+ towers overnight. We have
already completed construction on over 80 of these
sites (August 2013), and are constantly adding more
sites as per increasing customer demand.
The simple reality of our business is that, at the
pricing levels we charge, any tower with one tenant
is a liability - or at best, a very poor investment.
Towers with two tenants are an asset. Fortunately,
Eaton has signed up more than two tenants per
tower on average already in South Africa.
When we market a site to an operator, it’s already
fully permitted, and we have a framework
agreement in place, so both parties know the price.
All they have to do is sign an ISA (Individual Site
Agreement), and we can have them installed on a
“
“
Eaton has signed up more
than two tenants per tower on
average already in South Africa
66 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Cape Town, South Africa
new site in 30 days. We break ground as soon as we
have a single anchor tenant signed up, and we’re
able to react quickly to operator demand - in fact
the passive infrastructure can often be ready faster
than the time taken to get the transmission links in
place and to get the active equipment installed.
TowerXchange: How does running an organic
growth towerco differ from a business model
built on a sale and leaseback transaction?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: We have to make informed guesses where
coverage gaps in the networks will appear, as
voice and data capacity demands grow. It can be as
simple as choosing sites more than 500-600m from
an existing tower, where people live in the shadow
of the site. The truth is that it is not that simple for
network planners at operators to be able to predict
accurately more than a year ahead in terms of
their network densification requirements, and the
acquisition and permitting work can take several
months, so towercos offer significantly reduced
time to market, by speculatively acquiring and
permitting sites.
Our formula isn’t complex. As soon as one tenant
needs a site, we build it. If we can add a second
tenant in under 2-3 years, we’ll be successful, so
it’s a case of assessing each site to determine how
strongly we should market it.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
66
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: I expect to see American Tower make more
investments in South Africa. But I can’t comment
on speculation linking them with another deal with
MTN.
Quite frankly, I’m glad American Tower is operating
in South Africa as well as Eaton Towers - it makes
operators more familiar with the towerco business
model and price points. We’re not really in direct
competition with American Tower - because
uniquely located sites are exactly that - uniquely
located. In our entire portfolio there are probably
two sites where our tower is within 500-600m of
American Tower’s. As an organic build towerco, if
we saw a new site go up where we had acquired
land and completed permitting, we probably
wouldn’t market the site, as the supply:demand ratio
would be out.
TowerXchange: How would you anticipate the
South African tower market evolving if MTN and
American Tower did get together?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: It would be interesting to see how Vodacom
and Telkom would react. Both have larger portfolios
of towers in South Africa, but there is overlap with
the MTN portfolio, so I doubt it would make sense
for them to deal their towers into the same vehicle
67 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
Vodacom specifically has an
excellent opportunity to... structure
a deal with a towerco to secure
an immediate opex subsidy in
the region of 25-40%, creating
industry-leading low opex, thereby
putting them in a great place to
prevail in any future price wars
“
TowerXchange: What would be the impact on
your business of the rumoured transaction
between MTN and American Tower in South
Africa?
as all the others. That would be very poor for
competition reasons - and no towerco would want
to buy assets where they already have significant
numbers of “near neighbor” sites.
At Eaton, we are keen to expand and accelerate
our investments in South Africa. And I expect that
our local commitment and presence, coupled with
our well funded position, in-market experience
and customer base, would make Eaton Towers
an excellent counter-party for any future towers
transactions in the country.
Vodacom specifically has an excellent opportunity
to use their towers to drive their cost base as low
as they can over the next 10 - 15 years and beyond.
They could structure a deal with a towerco to secure
an immediate opex subsidy in the region of 25-40%,
creating industry-leading low opex, thereby putting
them in a great place to prevail in any future price
wars. Dropping opex from around ZAR9,000 per
month to ZAR6,000 simply cannot be done through
efficiency programmes, so the towerco counterparty
would have to agree an EBITDA-negative deal.
The only place that the guaranteed “opex subsidy”
comes from is the tower company’s shareholders,
through their income statement. Obviously, at some
point in the future, we would need to believe that
the tower portfolio becomes EBITDA positive - but
that is not something the operator would need to
worry about. Their greatly subsidised site opex
would be fixed by the towerco. Eaton Towers is
the only towerco that has done a deal on this basis
in Africa. Whilst our shareholders have a positive
view on these types of transactions, I don’t see how
publicly listed towercos, that are currently quoted
as trading at a multiple of their EBITDA, could bring
their management and shareholders along to do
such a strongly EBITDA negative deal.
Meanwhile state-owned fixed line operator Telkom
is estimated to have over 6,000 shareable structures
towers. It’s the largest ‘poles and holes’ network in
SSA. Telkom has a great opportunity to do a tower
deal. It’s not about the Telkom Mobile rollout,
they can do that using other infrastructure. It’s
an opportunity to become a carrier of carriers, to
release cash and drive down opex, securing a stake
in a towerco that would be a boost to the valuation
of their business. In order to do this, Telkom would
have to clarify the implications of the Facilities
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
67
then supplement their existing 3G networks with
LTE, or if they license new operators who are then
motivated to build as much LTE coverage as they
can in high demand areas, catalysing the data
market.
Although operators are already running some LTE
sites, there’s still a lot of ground to cover in South
Africa’s LTE story.
Durban, South Africa
Leasing Act, which forces “dominant” operators
to sell slots on their infrastructure on a “cost plus”
basis, but whether Telkom can really be considered
a dominant operator in the mobile-era, and the
exact definition of “cost plus” should both be up for
debate.
TowerXchange: Have there been a lot of bilateral tower swaps in South Africa? I recall the
suggestion that one operator in South Africa
had third party tenants sharing 50-60% of their
towers.
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: Historically there have been quite a few
swaps of slots, but on a piecemeal basis. Bi-lateral
swaps are not customer service oriented, and the
turnaround time between requesting and securing
a slot can be as long as 12 months.
68 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
I’d describe bi-lateral swaps in South Africa as
significant but not strategic. Mobile networks have
been functioning since 1994, so over the nineteen
and a half years they’ve been operating towers, if
the lease up rate is still only 1.5, then you can see
they haven’t given the same attention to adding
multiple tenants that an independent towerco
would have.
TowerXchange: What impact will LTE have on
the South African tower market?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers
South Africa: LTE could be a shot in the arm for the
telecoms business, and ICASA is expected to issue
licenses in the coming months, but we don’t know
yet what their strategy will be.
The impact on the market will depend whether
ICASA gives licenses to incumbent operators who
TowerXchange: Beyond the four leading mobile
network operators, are there any niche players
that are significant potential tenants on South
African towers?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: Internet Solutions and Neotel are two of the
more interesting operators. And I expect that LTE
licensing in future will see new entrants launch.
Neotel is a non-mobile player targeting the SOHO
(Small Office Home Office) segment and using
WiMAX, WiFi and CDMA. They have a lot of rooftops
in their infrastructure. While they may not be
completely self-funding yet, they have an interesting
business model in not competing in the retail
market but focusing on broadband for business
and high end users. Their opportunity seems to be
partly due to current data capacity issues in many
areas of all the GSM operators. If the last year is
anything to go by, demand seems to be increasing
faster than the mobile operators can expand and
densify their networks - and I think Neotel are
capitalising well on this.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
68
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: We retain project management oversight,
quality, health and safety responsibilities, but we
subcontract site builds to full turnkey contractors.
Our field maintenance is outsourced, but we manage
service levels, call escalations and keep the NOC and
SLA management in-house.
With the exception of a few permitting activities, our
property team is managed in-house and permits 1520 new sites per month.
TowerXchange: What’s the energy logistics state
of play - how extensive and reliable is South
Africa’s grid?
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
Africa: We have over 99.3% availability of grid
power across our portfolio. Uptime is so high that we
haven’t got fixed generators on sites - we simply use
mobile gensets that we can dispatch to sites within
three hours of a grid failure, before the operators’
batteries are depleted. So the focus on energy issues
in South Africa is lower than anywhere else in SSA.
TowerXchange: What are the implications of
Eaton Towers’ success in South Africa for the rest
of the African tower market.
Keith Boyd, Managing Director, Eaton Towers South
69 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Africa: I am pleasantly surprised that the South
African market has already offered significantly
better than expected growth for the tower sharing
business. If you’d asked me in 2010, I would have
thought South Africa was a mature market, but now
we see a great opportunity for the tower industry
here.
Data-wise, South Africa is the most developed
market in Africa. I recently met a consultant
who forecast data consumption would rise to an
average of 1GB of data being used per day per data
subscriber. I don’t know whether we’ll reach those
kind of numbers in my time, but that’s only an hour
of HD entertainment. We’ve all been guilty at times
of underestimating where technology can take us,
and if 1GB per subscriber per day were the future,
that would represent a thousand times increase on
the data demand we have today. If active equipment
becomes ten times as efficient, you still have a
hundred times capacity to make up, and it still
presents a tremendous opportunity.
That’s why there’s upside in the South African
tower market, and if you consider the relative
data consumption in Eaton’s other tower markets,
Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, then you can see there
is still a lot of potential runway for towerco growth
elsewhere in SSA as increasing data consumption
drives cell site densification.
The insatiable demand for voice coverage that
drove the initial land-grab network rollouts in
Africa is going to be replaced with an insatiable
demand for data. Operators are going to need to
accelerate project management again to densify the
“
if South Africa is not a
mature market for the
towerco business model,
then there is even more
room for growth elsewhere
in SSA
“
TowerXchange: For the benefit of our supplier
readers, what capabilities does Eaton Towers
South Africa have in-house, what do you
subcontract?
last mile, or the last 400m as it is today, and to keep
up with transmission requirements.
If operator Points of Service treble between 2011
and 2021 in South Africa, as our forecasts suggested,
operators will continue to escape the huge capital
requirement this generates by using independent
towerco sites. They’ll have to keep all their capex
focused on active equipment. Eaton Towers has
made a great start to our organically grown South
African business, and we see plenty of room for
growth in the future. And, if South Africa is not a
mature market for the towerco business model,
then there is even more room for growth elsewhere
in SSA
Register today to join Keith Boyd’s South African
market round table at the TowerXchange Meetup
on October 1 and 2.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
69
Special feature:
From RMS to monitoring
and management
platforms, part four
In part four of this special feature, TowerXchange introduces
readers to azeti, who have an interesting new platform
SiteOne, developed in partnership with managed services
giants Lemcon, which they use to add intelligence to BTS site
management.
Tarantula have an alternative platform to manage
information assets across the end to end workflow of a
towerco that evolved with the tower industry itself. If you’re
not familiar with Tarantula, or with their new Chairman
Udhay Mathialagan - veteran of Macquarie, Crown Castle
and founder of Insight Infrastructure, a greenfield towerco
which he sold to ATC - then I’m sure you’ll enjoy his insightful
interview in which he explains how harnessing information
is critical to optimising TCF.
Finally we check-in with M2M gurus HMS Industrial
Networks, whose Anybus embedded communication modules
enable communication between devices and networks across
the ever-increasing variety of protocols, and whose Netbiter
RMS ultimately enables the comparison and optimisation of
sites’ energy efficiency ratios.
Don’t miss:
71 azeti add intelligence to BTS site management
77 Tarantula use information management to measure
and maximise TCF
82 HMS: If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it
70 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Adding intelligence
to BTS site management
Integrating monitoring and management, access control, maintenance, asset,
inventory and HR management in an end to end managed service
Site management experts azeti reckon there
are 8m telecom towers worldwide, of which
640,000 are dependent on generator power,
rising to 1m in the next two years. To serve
this market, azeti has developed and deployed
together with azeti’s business partner Lemcon
Networks the cost efficient SiteOne solution for
network management, based on azeti’s proven
SONARPLEX product line.
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks
Keywords: Who’s Who, Managed Services, Access Control,
Monitoring & Management, Opex Reduction, Batteries, Fuel
Security, Air Conditioning, ESCOs, Site Visits, Asset Register,
RF-Units, Community Power, RMS, Site Management
System, Asset Lifecycle Platform, Job Ticketing, Spare Parts,
azeti, Lemcon
Read this article to learn:
< How azeti’s intelligent site management capability is integrated with Lemcon’s NeXsysOne in the new
SiteOne solution
< How to save 30%+ on the operating cost of HVAC Systems
< How predictive monitoring extends MTBF
< Integrating with a zero capex energy service business model and working with the local community to
share power and improve site security
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Where do azeti fit into the
telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: azeti
Networks AG is a global manufacturer and
supplier of high-performance, intelligent site
management solutions. Founded in 2006, with
corporate headquarters in Berlin, azeti also
maintains subsidiaries in the UK, South America,
the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.
Today, more than 1,000 companies in 35 countries
rely on azeti technology to monitor both their IT
and physical infrastructures.
While we initially concentrated on industrial
product monitoring, we now concentrate on
telcos with special focus on BTS monitoring.
azeti’s unified monitoring solutions are not
just limited to monitoring IT components (such
as routers, switches, servers and software
applications), but by supporting a wide range
of sensors and detectors, we can also monitor
and manage just about every sort of physical
phenomenon imaginable: fuel levels and usage
rates, temperatures and pressures, voltage levels
and battery capacities, air quality and flooding,
gages and valves... plus cameras, motion sensors,
access-control devices and so on. The possibilities
are virtually endless.
Information collected from all remote locations
flows via communications networks into the
SiteOne console that, regardless of monitored
systems’ distance and location, acquires,
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
71
visualizes, controls and analyses every sort of
information client companies need to precisely
monitor and operate their most vital systems
and equipment. In addition, It also produces
management reports, analytics and historical
information data.
Because azeti makes use of standard sensors and
industrial bus interfaces, clients can depend on
an uninterrupted flow of information. And even
if there should be a communications network
failure, azeti’s appliances continue to run without
the central console, thus assuring a complete data
record.
I joined azeti in 2009 with a substantial round
of venture capital financing, with an objective
to internationalise the business, which had been
focused on Europe. By 2010 we had 60% of our
revenue coming from outside Europe.
TowerXchange: Please introduce our readers
to your business partners Lemcon Networks.
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: We
conducted extensive research and identified
Lemcon Networks as a top star in the managed
services business for telcos.
Your site management system could be the best in
world, but if you don’t install, rollout and manage
services in the right way with qualified people,
the project will not be a success.
Lemcon Networks Ltd. was established in 2000 to
72 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
azeti interface
focus on telecom projects. The company is part
of the Lemminkainen group from Finland which
has 9,000 employees and an annual turnover
of €2bn. Over the years, the company has been
involved in telecom network deployment projects
in over 40 countries across all continents.
Lemcon’s core experience comes from upgrading
and expanding GSM, WiFi, WiMAX, UMTS or
LTE networks. Lemcon customers worldwide
include or have included Globe Philippines,
Econet Zimbabwe, T-Mobile USA, Nokia Siemens
Networks, Ericsson, Huawei, Millicom, MTN,
and the Finland based S-group. Lemcon has
successfully delivered more than 200 projects
worldwide since 2000. Many of these projects are
complete end-to-end turnkey delivery service
from site acquisition to final network operations.
On-going projects include system integration
type services centralised around data capacity
expansions, site management, mobile network
system integration, asset management, building
maintenance and managed services.
It was perfect timing when we contacted Lemcon
20 months ago, as Lemcon had developed
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
software around managed services for BTS and
towers; software that combined monitoring and
management, staff and project management,
maintenance, repair and resale management.
They were consolidating their managed services
offering into a new suite – NeXsysOne, so azeti’s
SONARPLEX Product line became the site
monitoring component thereof.
Lemcon has established its Global Technical
Support Center in Dubai (GTAC) that supports
activities directly linked to the professional
NeXsysOne software suites.
TowerXchange: What is the installed base of
SiteOne in emerging markets?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: azeti
and Lemcon as mentioned have delivered
successfully more than 1.000 installations
independently. Now with the unique combined
solution SiteOne we have successfully deployed
our first installations around the globe. The
solution will be implemented at 250 sites in
Q3/2013 and is shortlisted in projects with in total
more than 100,000 sites.
TowerXchange: How does using SiteOne add
value to the management of remote cell sites,
particularly in emerging markets?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: We
collect data from remote sites to the NOC, and
enable tower operators to react. For example,
an engineer may set the air conditioning to
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
lower the temperature in the shelter to 18
degrees for a maintenance visit, yet forget to
reset the temperature when he leaves – that
can cost a fortune in air conditioning power
consumption. With SiteOne we can detect the
temperature, verify from the surveillance
module that is integrated in SiteOne that the site
access is complete, and reset the air conditioning
remotely.
We can monitor for water intrusion into the fuel
tank, we can switch off the pump or generator
remotely... Any number of sensors and data
points can be deployed to SiteOne for control
from the NOC.
TowerXchange: How can intelligent site
management be simplified?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: Many
site management processes can be automated
using SiteOne. Local events can be handled
within our SONARPLEX appliance that can
automatically reset temperatures, water pumps,
entrance gates, cameras or reboot IT and RF
components.
For example, all we need to know to configure
the air conditioning is the highest critical
temperature of every piece of equipment in
a shelter. We don’t need manual intervention
from the NOC, temperatures can be managed
automatically onsite. The only important input
is to know which asset will overheat and at what
temperature.
With our technology, up to 40-50 different
measurements of temperature can be gathered,
enabling us to identify the optimal sweet spot for
air conditioning, which should lead to at least
30% savings.
Our reports require very low data traffic when
everything is fine – there’s no need to transport
data about the temperature every minute, all that
does is blow up the data traffic.
Our solution is powered by an intelligent
Modbus, BlueTooth, Zigbee, WirelessLAN, GSMenabled box onsite, each with the processing
power of a computer but as big as two cigarette
boxes. There is no need for 10 boxes from
different vendors – more sensor devices only
means more installation and maintenance
hassles! Whether it’s a diesel generator, solar
panel array, deep cycle battery, or the monitoring
of rectifiers, complex power scenarios can be
managed from a simple device.
TowerXchange: What impact does intelligent
site management have on Mean Time Between
Failures (MTBF)?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: We
provide predictive monitoring for IP devices
logging file size, CPU usage, HDD status et cetera,
while we can detect fuel refilling status and
purification with water, and optimise battery
cycles and performance to extend battery life
cycles.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
73
“
“
Co-ordination with asset registers
and spare parts inventory means
spare parts can be delivered faster to
the site, further reducing MTBF
Generator life cycles are extended by the many
ways in which intelligent site management can
reduce runtime, for example reducing fuel usage
by energy (AC) management, such as by using a
simple “maintenance” button.
Co-ordination with asset registers and spare parts
inventory means spare parts can be delivered
faster to the site, further reducing MTBF.
TowerXchange: How can tower operators
combat fuel theft?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: The most
common challenges we encounter working with
tower operators involve fuel, batteries or copper
being stolen, or problems with access control and
unqualified access.
With SiteOne, video surveillance is built into the
site and linked to alarms, with a camera that
automatically locks the site if broken, and a ‘dead
man alert’ in case of tower falls.
74 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Access control can be simplified with the Staff
Manager tool from Lemcon plus SiteOne. Only
qualified engineers can open the gates using an
SMS code that works for six hours on a simple
electronic lock and PinPad or barcode read from
a smartphone – there’s no need for an expensive
intelligent lock, although we can use fingerprint
access control if the operator wants. We also
support a proof container/area with separate
access control for the fuel tank.
TowerXchange: How can tower operators
“close the loop” on maintenance alerts and
job ticketing to ensure priority actions are
completed in a timely manner and recorded in
asset registers?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: SiteOne
includes a ticketing system which can be
integrated with an existing job ticketing system.
On top of this, Lemcon offers a whole range of
integrated applications to optimise maintenance
of remote sites:
manner
< TaskOne is a comprehensive task management
solution that coordinates field activities with
those of the NOC
Let’s use an example scenario in which the RFUnit malfunctions. This generates an alert which
triggers an automated restart of the RF-Unit by
software command; and as we know it seems like
90% of malfunctioning assets work if you just
switch them on and off!
Whilst we try to fix the problem intelligently and
automatically on site, at same time we report the
problem to SiteOne at the NOC, which generates
a job ticket and alert with historical data on
the asset. If the automated solution onsite still
hasn’t fixed the problem, the alert goes into
< MaintainOne is a comprehensive preventive
and corrective maintenance management
system. This web-based application is a
one-stop solution for all your event and alarm
management needs
< AssetOne is the premier asset management
and inventory solution
< StaffOne is an advanced human resource
management software that allows you to
control and consolidate all your resource
information in a streamlined and efficient
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
StaffOne to find the nearest engineer with the
right qualifications. That engineer is SMS’ed an
access code to open gate, together with a photo
of the RF-Unit, and notification that this is the
component in which we’ve detected an error.
Meanwhile TaskOne governs the change of RFUnit, and looks into AssetOne for stock of spare
RF-Units of the right type (or orders one if out
of stock), while also identifying who is the next
engineer free to take the spare part from the
store to the site. So there’s a seamless, end to end
process from the azeti SONARPLEX boxes on the
site to the dashboard at the NOC.
Typically our joint service is sold on a monthly
base.
TowerXchange: Can you extend your business
model into providing energy as a service?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: We’re
finalising a new partnership with a company that
manufactures modular energy stations designed
to provide efficient power to telecommunications
base stations. The model will be based on a zero
capex model, where they generate revenue solely
from fuel savings. We have a contract to preinstall azeti inside their generators to manage the
whole site and embed this in a managed service
model.
In this model, the energy service company might
give the old generator to the community, which
incentivises them to take care of the site. Security
improves if you work with the community to
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
azeti interface
protect the site – it’s in their interest that the
site is up and running. When locals can charge
their phones using generators, if the gate is ever
broken, local people can respond fastest. The
model has been proven in the favelas in Brazil.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how
you differentiate SiteOne from competitive
remote monitoring and intelligent site
management systems?
Thorsten Schaefer, CEO, azeti Networks: The
combination of azeti’s intelligent remote
technology SONARPLEX and Lemcon’s SiteOne
software offer a unique solution to:
< Monitor ANY old or new assets at a remote
sites from IP devices, plus sensors and
cameras to control theft of fuel and assets
< Manage ALL intelligent devices (AC, batteries,
generator, cameras, entrance gates, et cetera)
directly at the site
This significantly reduces energy consumption,
theft, MTBF, and maintenance opex including
truck rolls
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
75
Site Management - Made Intelligent
Using information
management to measure and
maximise Tower Cash Flow
How to harness critical information across the end to end tower industry
workflow, from construction to monetisation and maintenance
Udhay Mathialagan tripped into the international tower industry almost 15
years ago, and for good reason he stayed! Having initially worked at Telstra
and KPN, Udhay was a founding member of Crown Castle’s Australian
business in 2000, playing an instrumental role in the acquisition of Singtel
Optus’s US$225m tower portfolio, before serving as Director Strategic
Development and Commercial in Crown Castle’s management team. Udhay
founded Insight Infrastructure in 2006, a green field regional towerco in
India, and served as CEO until its sale to American Tower in late 2009.
Prior to joining Tarantula as Chairman a month ago, Udhay was a Senior
Communications Industry Advisor to Macquarie Capital.
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula
Keywords: How to Guide, TowerXchange Meetup Preview, O&M, Construction,
Valuation, Due Diligence, Opex Reduction, Tenancy Ratios, Co-locations, Data
Room, Exit Strategy, SLA, Unreliable Grid, KPIs, Site Visits, Asset register,
C-level Perspective, Ground Leases, TCF, Asset Lifecycle Platform, Job Ticketing,
Africa, Americas (South), Asia, Europe, Tarantula
Read this article to learn:
< How Tarantula’s platform built for towercos can be configured much more quickly and efficiently than
traditional ERP systems
< The critical data points required to calculate and optimise TCF
< Using a real time asset register to close the gap between what is in the contract and what is on the tower
< Leveraging ‘single source of the truth’ data to manage a complex supply chain
< The importance of high quality information to get a better valuation of your tower assets
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce yourself to our
readers.
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: Having
been involved in a variety of different roles in
developed and developing tower markets (Australia,
India and Russia) involved in multiple towerco
formats, from full blown asset purchases and carve
outs to green field builds, and most recently being a
financial sponsor, I was ready for a new role.
I became interested in niche companies offering
differential value to the tower industry, and got
connected with Ravi Kuppan, Founder of Tarantula.
I saw Tarantula becoming more and more relevant
as towercos seek to establish themselves in new
developing markets, they have found the Tarantula
platform useful to help them expand quickly
and efficiently. So I recently joined Tarantula
as Chairman to partner with Ravi to build out a
global platform and go deeper into complex site
management tasks.
TowerXchange: What does the Tarantula
platform provide for tower operators?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: We
provide a platform for telecom operators and
towercos to manage information assets relating
to towers across the end to end workflow - from
establishing, operating and monetising assets
through to the tracking and management of an
inventory of assets. The platform is purposebuilt for the tower industry and for the unique
challenges of managing of communications and
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
77
power across thousands of distributed sites.
TowerXchange: How has the tower industry
historically managed workflows and asset
management?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: When
I started out in the business almost 15 years ago,
the tower market was confined to big players in the
US, UK and Australia. These larger players typically
managed their businesses using customised
traditional ERP systems at great expense - the
customisation effort even in a smaller country
could cost US$5-10m to adapt the towerco’s business
process, and in many cases it still didn’t respond
very well.
“
With the move from developed
to developing markets, the
business model also became
more complex. We moved from
a straight-forward real estate
management model to a tower
plus power model, with new
operational challenges, new costs
and new penalties associated with
managing unreliable power
“
78 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
As the tower industry evolved into a larger number
of countries, including emerging markets, a new
class of smaller and medium sized towercos began
to emerge, including subsidiaries of large towercos
entering new smaller countries. With the move
from developed to developing markets, the business
model also became more complex. We moved from
a straight-forward real estate management model
to a tower plus power model, with new operational
challenges, new costs and new penalties associated
with managing unreliable power.
The large ERP systems didn’t respond well, they
were too expensive for the scale of some of these
new towercos, so Tarantula filled a natural gap in
the market. We had codified tower industry specific
workflow processes, were able to automate key
business processes, offering a cost effective, fast
deployment solution.
TowerXchange: Tell us the story of Tarantula’s
origins - how did you “codify tower industry
specific workflow processes”?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: Tarantula
started in the late 1990’s in the UK, initially as a
web-based platform site-share.com, supporting
the industry with information about what was
happening in the sites market. Site-share.com
provided an open platform, and everyone put their
data on it.
Tarantula developed an understanding of what
people were doing with assets. As the emerging
market tower industry took off, Tarantula entered
the Indian market, and eventually had almost
half the towers in India running on the Tarantula
platform.
TowerXchange: What is Tarantula’s footprint
worldwide?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: We have
a substantial footprint in Europe, particularly in
the UK and Scandinavia, and in India. We’ve done
a few implementations in Africa, with a more in
the pipeline. Our market-tested solutions are highly
relevant to the rapidly growing markets in Africa.
With our global headquarters being consolidated
in Singapore, we’re going to get increasingly active
in Asia, especially South East Asia, where there are
some exciting market developments in the tower
market. We’re also working towards a partnership
approach in the Americas.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
of sense.
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: In
developed markets, our platform was mainly used
for lease management - managing ground leases
and leases to clients - and inventory management.
The biggest difference moving into emerging
markets was the addition of energy management understanding the energy mix particularly at sites
connected to the grid but not necessarily available
all day; balancing the use of grid, battery and diesel
generators (later adding renewables). So it evolved
from a pure real estate to a real estate plus energy
logistics game.
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: We’ve
been through many combinations of different
market dynamics and different customer needs, so
we’ve market tested our codified tower industry
workflow processes. There is always something
unique to bring in from a new customer’s business
plan, but we’re not starting from raw code; we have
a platform that works. Towercos have a trade-off of
cost and time to adapt, so time to market is critical.
Another big difference between developed and
developing market tower portfolios is that in
developed markets portfolios are most often
assembled through asset purchase, whereas there
is more green field activity in emerging markets.
To support these complex construction projects, we
developed a deployment module. So the Tarantula
platform covers the end to end workflow; from a
front end construction module, through a central
module for managing financial and legal processes,
to a back end O&M management module. We’ve
codified tower management business processes in a
box, enabling towercos and MNOs to get to market
very quickly by configuring unique elements
of their business process onto the platform. For
companies moving into new markets it makes a lot
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Tell us a bit more about the
configuration that is required to adapt to
different towerco’s unique business processes.
Configuration requirements vary by customer,
but the core processes of tower operators are not
that different - managing build-to-suits, leasing to
tenants, managing maintenance processes and fuel
supply. Tower operators need to be able to adjust
dynamically to emerging new opportunities as they
acquire more towers, win build-to-suit contracts,
or as the regulations change. Tarantula has a
dynamic platform built specifically for towercos,
supported by people with knowledge of the towerco
business, which means we can configure the system
very quickly and efficiently, which is a compelling
alternative for towercos who would otherwise
spend US$millions adapting a much larger ERP
system.
TowerXchange: What are the KPIs through which
tower operators should measure and manage
performance?
“
it’s all about Tower Cash Flow
(TCF) - how much cash is being
generated at a unit level. TCF is
the first metric investors look at it
when evaluating tower portfolios
“
TowerXchange: How did the information
management requirements of your customers
evolve as your focus expanded from the
developed UK and Scandinavian markets into
emerging markets?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: When
you’ve worked in the tower industry as long as
I have, you know it’s all about Tower Cash Flow
(TCF) - how much cash is being generated at a unit
level. TCF is the first metric investors look at it
when evaluating tower portfolios. TCF is a product
of the revenue or cash flow per tower, which itself
is a function of the tenancy ratio and lease rate.
TCF also incorporates how much revenue is being
dispersed to landlords through the underlying
ground lease costs, and how much is spent on
maintenance.
The tenure on the underlying ground lease is
critical, and Tarantula helps towercos track this.
Investors always want to know the long-term lease
costs and whether they are at risk. Towercos in
developed markets spend $millions extending
and stabilising their ground leases, but ground
leases are even more complicated in developing
markets where you’re dealing with multiple
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
79
federal, municipal and environmental regulatory
authorities, not to mention a range of different real
estate legal frameworks. The Tarantula platform
enables you to add compliance processes to follow
and to create a view of your lease model. This
enables tower operators to create an early warning
system when lease renewals are coming up, and to
create a proactive strategy to secure leases at a good
cost level.
The tower industry may be young in Africa, but
it’s important to have high quality data on ground
leases that you can slice and dice.
TowerXchange: What are the other critical data
points when managing and maximising TCF?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: From a
costs perspective, there are key data points around
property. In developed markets you can almost
have an attitude of ‘set and forget’, at least you can
have that attitude to costs other than those relating
to long-term ground lease costs. In developing
markets property, power and regulations are always
changing. The asset may be “passive”, but nothing
about the information is! Tenants may add new
equipment, the underlying lease may change - there
are literally hundreds of data points per tower.
A lot of first generation towercos didn’t need this
level of information detail, but in developing
markets you need better control and monitoring
systems to optimise energy opex, maintenance
processes and ultimately to achieve your business
plans.
80 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Revenue is reported through normal financial
systems, with revenue assurance and asset tracking.
What is physically on a tower and what’s reflected
in contract are not always the same things! Having
a real time asset register gives you a better quality
framework for revenue assurance, and a sound
basis for a mature conversation with the client. So
good information management is critical to bridge
the gap between what’s in the contract and what’s
actually on the tower.
Being able to get accurate and consolidated data
across sites enables you to make commercial
decisions on the front line of the marketing of
towers and the sale of tenancies, and to meet
specific client requirements. Having the ability
to get accurate and timely information on these
distributed tower assets will enable towercos to
come up with smarter commercial and promotional
deals, and ultimately to optimise revenue. Tarantula
has the ability to create reports that have been
proven across multiple markets and situations to
give more levers for an emerging market towerco to
run their revenue engine.
TowerXchange: Looking beyond the tower
operator, how does site-share.com help to align
and manage subcontractors and suppliers within
the tower supply chain?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: This is an
area we’re particularly good in!
Without a platform like ours, you can find a
managed service provider converting Service Level
Agreement commitments into their own complex
spreadsheet, then a field engineer converts it into
a Word document - instructions and metrics are
corrupted by their transfer.
Our platform allows field engineers visiting a site
to work against exactly the same task list as seen
at the NOC, and to upload data back to the NOC. In
this way, the tower operator can confidently tick off
milestones - and suppliers don’t get paid until they
have provided data, in the right format, proving a
task has been completed in a timely manner, and
the completion of that task has been accepted.
Managing small suppliers in remote operations
requires a “single source of truth” set of data.
Managing subcontractors becomes a data-based
interaction with remote supply chain participants.
Significant managerial skills are required,
but we’ve standardised data and embedded
workflow processes in a way that results in a more
professional approach to managing the supply
chain. We also generate an audit trail of what’s
happened - that’s the power of data - there’s a
lot of information that can’t be retrieved from
spreadsheets and word documents spread across
locations.
TowerXchange: How does Tarantula’s mobility
platform support the management of remote
suppliers?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: We’ve
put our software on a smart phone to enable the
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
The mobility platform enables accurate information
transfer to field staff: which site to go to, which
tasks to undertake, which data to capture. The app
generates a geo-coded, time stamped audit trail.
The mobility platform can help reduce site visits or
make them more efficient - if someone is visiting to
replace battery they can take a picture of the assets
on the tower at the same time.
Labour may have a cheaper unit cost in developing
markets, but developing market towers require
a lot more site visits, and the economic cost of
inefficiency is quite high. Tarantula are bringing
technology to bear to make site visits more
productive.
TowerXchange: Finally, as a tower-industry
leader with experience of tower transactions,
tell us how using Infrastructure Lifecycle
Management platforms like Tarantula’s can
improve the valuation of tower assets?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: Good
question! There are two parts to my answer: one,
having better systems and controls helps tower
operators drive TCF in a smarter way. Through the
lifecycle of owning an asset, you want do everything
possible to optimise TCF using all the information
and control tools we put at your disposal. Then two,
once you’ve negotiated the headline valuation with
an acquirer, the major international towercos have
very thorough due diligence processes, and you
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
need to be able to withstand those due diligence
processes to close the transactions. I have first-hand
experience of selling my company to American
Tower, and I’ve worked with Crown Castle so I
know how they evaluate assets.
High quality information gives confidence to the
buyer. If you’re scratching around for information,
you’re opening yourself up to downward
renegotiation of the multiple. Information quality is
the first impression even before a potential acquirer
takes a sample of your physical assets - you can’t
reverse engineer high quality information four
years after the assets were built or initially acquired
- you’ve got to ensure high quality information from
day one.
TowerXchange: Actually, one more question in your experience how does the information
quality compare between towercos and MNOs?
Udhay Mathialagan, Chairman, Tarantula: A few
MNOs in markets that are exposed to the towerco
business model are starting to develop a concept of
what their assets could be worth. They’re starting to
appreciate the need to manage towers as a distinct
asset element and therefore realise improving the
quality of their information can improve value.
Our engagement with MNOs has increased sharply
this year. We have an end to end workflow and
asset management system for managing distributed
tower networks, and we’re noticing that MNOs
rolling out 4G / LTE use tower assets and rooftops
in different ways from what how they used them
“
the major international towercos
have very thorough due diligence
processes, and you need to be
able to withstand those due
diligence processes to close
the transactions... High quality
information gives confidence to
the buyer
“
tower operator to push detailed jobs out to staff and
contractors.
with 2G and 3G. They’re using property rights
in different ways, blending technologies at a
combination of owned, shared and leased towers.
The nature of tower sharing has shifted from oneto-one relationships, to the complexities of network
joint ventures and multi-band technologies in
the same slots; there are more variables. Towers
are a multi-dimensional matrix that needs to be
managed. MNOs’ traditional network management
tools would need to be heavily customised to
manage such complexity; Tarantula’s pedigree
in wireless site management is embedded in our
product and in our people - MNOs entering into
complex sharing agreements for LTE or deploying
purpose-built emergency networks need to manage
information around these new modes of sharing at
complex, distributed sites
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
81
If you can’t measure it,
you can’t manage it
Netbiter remote management system applies Drucker to the management of cell sites
TowerXchange was once asked whether the integration
of M2M-enabled sensors into cell site equipment would
eventually render existing RMS systems redundant?
We think the opposite - the integration of varying
communication protocols from different sensors and the
communication of the information back to the NOC has
never been more important. HMS Industrial Networks’
Netbiter solution enables tower owners to connect any
equipment with a communication interface to their
gateway, which in turn provides critical information which
the NOC can use to reduce opex costs. By understanding
when, how and if equipment is operating, tower
operators are able to make better decisions regarding site
maintenance and take actions when necessary.
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB
Keywords: Who’s Who, Monitoring & Management, RMS,
Installation, Opex Reduction, Batteries, Fuel Security, Free
Cooling Units, Air Conditioning, DG Runtime, KPIs, Site
Visits, Rectifiers, Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Angola,
HMS Industrial Networks, Nebiter, Anybus
Read this article to learn:
< Using a gateway to integrate the diverse communication protocols from different cell site equipment
< Progressing from scheduled to predictive maintenance to reduce opex
< The benefits of ultrasonic compared to pressure fuel tank sensors
< How to measure Energy Efficiency Ratios (EERs) to target underperforming sites
82 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce
TowerXchange’s readers to HMS Industrial
Networks, particularly your experience in
telecoms.
Bartek S Candell, Global Key Account Manager,
Telecom Infrastructure and Energy, HMS
Industrial Networks AB: HMS is a leading
supplier of industrial communication technology
with 350 employees, operations in 10 countries,
and distributors in over 50 countries. We’re a
public company with annual turnover of €50m+.
While the company was founded in 1988 and our
initial applications were in industrial automation
and control, we got into the telecom business
three years ago; having supplied RMS to diesel
generator control panel manufacturers for
many years, we realised we could expand the
package to provide more holistic monitoring and
management of important aspects such as energy
generation and consumption, and package it in to
a ‘plug n play’ solution.
We have two brands of interest to TowerXchange
readers: Netbiter Remote management Solution
(RMS) and Anybus protocol converters for
industrial communication.
Every device, whether on a cell site or production
floor, has its own communication protocol,
and the amount of protocols is increasing
dramatically. HMS’s Anybus embedded
communication modules enable communication
in-between devices and networks. The Netbiter
gateways and Netbiter cloud services connect
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
devices and enable remote monitoring,
management and control. This provides instant
access to information such as system status,
performance and provides possibilities to analyse
and remotely operate equipment. In turn this
enables operators to reduce cost and improve
efficiency, better analyse equipment behavior,
and to transform maintenance procedures from
reactive to proactive.
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Cell sites are often serviced according to predetermined, scheduled maintenance. As site
visits, particularly to remote sites, are costly,
those costs can be reduced through RMS by
monitoring and configuring the site remotely.
The benefit is that you will be able to send teams
only to sites that need servicing, and you will
also know in advance what equipment to tend
to, enabling a team with the right skills to be
dispatched.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the installation
of your system and how it’s connected back to
the NOC.
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
It requires minimum of technical expertise to
install the Netbiter gateway at a cell site. It’s
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
83
plug and play - all you have to do is install the
hardware to the rack, power it up, connect to
the equipment you wish to monitor and/or
control, and leave the site - the gateway connects
automatically with our Netbiter Argos cloud
service. With all configurations undertaken
remotely via the cloud, tower operators avoid
the need to employ high cost, scarce engineering
skills to install our system.
Remote connectivity is provided via 3G, GPRS or
Ethernet. We offer our own web-based front end,
often used for more advanced configuration of
existing equipment on site. Many customers use
our API to integrate Netbiter cloud service with
their third party OSS software, gathering data
directly from our cloud into their own system.
TowerXchange: What equipment can Netbiter
monitor at a cell site?
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
With the minimum of site modification,
we can monitor and control basically any
existing equipment on a site through our M2M
communication interface.
Netbiter is available in building blocks - it’s like a
menu from which you can select ingredients such
as:
< Fuel management
< AC metering
< DC metering
< Genset management
84 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
< Rectifier and battery management
< Renewable energy management
level alarms and most important; verify the refills
and reduce the fuel refill intervals.
< Fuel cell management
< Free cooling / air conditioning management
TowerXchange: How big is the fuel theft
problem at cell sites, and how do you help
tower operators overcome that problem?
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
The Indian telecom industry consumed 3200bn
liters of diesel during 2012 and the estimation
is 4400bn litres of diesel in 2014[i]. Customers
have told us that approximately 30% of this can
be fraud! This is of course a huge problem and
we decided to come up with a good solution
for this. But since our core business is remote
communication and we had to come up with
a high quality solution for level measurement,
our choice was to team up with a German world
leading manufacture of level measurement
sensors - Pepper & Fuchs.
The outcome of this great partnership is a very
unique, top mounted ultrasonic sensor able to
measure tank level, refilling, consumption and
theft. To reach high resolution and accuracy
we needed to take the environmental aspects
into account. The sensor is compensating for
temperature changes in the diesel tank as well
as humidity. If a tank is mounted underneath a
generator we compensate for the vibrations from
the genset as well. With this high accuracy data
collected we can easily present correct tank level,
theft (on customer defined thresholds), low/high
The ultrasonic sensor is tamper proof - if
someone cuts the cable or removes the sensor we
immediately get an alarm that incoming data is
not correct.
Furthermore, what’s unique about our ultrasonic
sensor compared to other sensors is the
possibility of remote configuration. Basically the
only thing you do on site is to mount the sensor
on a tank and connect to the Netbiter gateway.
The rest is done remotely.
TowerXchange: Tell us about your system’s
capabilities in genset management.
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
We have for several years been the preferred
RMS supplier to many of the world’s leading
genset control manufactures. If you connect the
Netbiter gateway to the genset controller via
existing Modbus interface you get access to all the
parameters and settings you would have locally
on the controller like DG runtime, genset output,
battery levels, oil pressure, engine RPM, coolant
temperatures et cetera. Our solution then enables
you to remotely set parameters, or start / stop the
genset and collect alarms. If there is no Modbus
available you can easily connect the dry contacts
to the Netbiter gateway’s built-in I/O ports.
In Europe the problem is actually opposite from
other markets, the DG’s are not running that
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
“
“
by measuring the incoming
power and consumed telecom
power you easily get a site energy
efficiency ratio to compare with
other sites
often. Our customers use our solution to remotely
test-run the DGs to verify their operating status so
they are ready to start when really needed.
But probably the most important factor is that
our RMS solution enables the tower operator to
switch from scheduled to predictive maintenance
of the DGs, creating savings in all the aspects that
relates to service trips. TowerXchange: How does Netbiter measure
and enable the better management of the
performance of cell site energy?
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
Netbiter enables tower operators to monitor
the availability, quality and consumption of all
incoming power, existing (passive) equipment
and the telecom load. It’s possible to connect
up to 32 energy meters to our gateway, this can
be already existing meters or meters supplied
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
by HMS. The solution makes it simple to keep
track of multi-tenant sites but most import; by
measuring the incoming power and consumed
telecom power you easily get a site energy
efficiency ratio to compare with other sites which
by evaluating the result, allows you to target
underperforming sites that require investment.
All data is collected in the Netbiter RMS cloud and
can easily be extracted in weekly and monthly
reports, exported to excel format, or sent via the
API to customers’ existing SSO.
In a similar way, Netbiter enables the
management of free cooling, air conditioning
units and PIU’s (i.e any equipment with Modbus)
- with full remote access. We can collect all
parameters, change settings to manage alarms
and monitor when to change filters or perform
any other necessary maintenance related activity.
Finally, I also want to mention that in Q4 of this
year we’ll be releasing a new product which
enables a transparent channel to ex Energy
controllers or rectifiers enabling upload of new
firmware or the downloading of log files from the
rectifiers. This will further strengthen our offer
and allow us to expand our capabilities in site
monitoring!
that big.
In Angola we are rolling out our solution on
1,000 cells where the customer will monitor and
control the DGs remotely.
I can also tell you that we are working with one
of the world leading technology suppliers for cell
sites.
HMS will be going an African Roadshow with
Business Sweden, Ericsson and other Swedish
telecom suppliers this year. We will also attend
the Towerxchange Meetup Africa, and we are as
well working on several tenders from the region.
TowerXchange: Please give our readers an
idea of the capital outlay required on a per
site basis and the timeline to RoI.
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB:
Of course the answer varies according to which
equipment is being monitored on a site, the level
of existing diesel theft/fraud and the cost of diesel
in the local market. Assuming that we have a cell
site with DG running 24/7 with a consumption of
2 liters/hour (0,80EUR/liter diesel) and 4 % fraud,
will give us an RoI of 12 months.
TowerXchange: What’s HMS’s installed base in
Africa?
The Netbiter Remote management solution for
one site starts from approximately EUR360 for
the hardware and approximately EUR50 per year
for cloud services
Bartek S Candell, HMS Industrial Networks AB: As
Africa is a new market for us our presence is not
[i] http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/
Enabling-Clean-Talking.pdf
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
85
online
www.landmobile.co.uk
The home of wireless communications
for business on the web
May 2013
May 2013
U SS IINNEESSSS
OR B U
SS FF O
I CAATTI IOONN
U UNNI C
MM
MEM
W C
VEt TO
RO
ERO
L
IC
EV
rtisemen
E LSESS SC O
AdveOL
R IERLEELSESS ISW
W IW
MM
CO
MM
UUNNI C
AY.
W
I CAATBE
ER
IOOTT
N
NS
VE
S TO
FF O
AEVTIOL
OR B U
U SS IINNEE S
S SS
.
WrtiseAY
EV
AdveOL
A BETTER
VE
men
t TO
AEVBE
OLTT
VEER
W
TO AY.
A BETTER WAY
.
, mistakes
competitive world
In today’s ultra
you no
than ever. But
can be more costly
kes
drop your
that, mista
radiosworld
teetitive
comp
to tolera
r have
’s ultra
longe
In today
d you
no with
you
stran
, orBut
ever.
audio
t yourthan
distorcostly
be more
life.
calls
canand
your
drop ry
thatbatte
and short
te radios
age
tolera
r haveletocover
with
longedictab
unpre
In today
you
strand
’s
t your audio, or ultra competitive world, mista
calls and distor
kes
can and
battery life.
be unica
tion.
shortcostly
r commmore
than ever. But
coverage
le bette
afford
you no
candictab
unpre
You
longe
gue
r
analo
In
have
today
to tolera
’s ultra
™ digital radios, leave
compteetitive
radiosworld
that, mista
drop your
With eVerge
tion.
calls
audio
r
kes
can
unica
and
bette
be
distor
to
more costly
t yourthan
evolve
audio
ord bette
d andr comm
, orBut
ever.
stran
You can
tionsaffbehin
gue
d you
at
you
analo
all
limita
no
unpre
with
longe
leave
,
dictab
range
r
r
have
™ digital radios
tolera
y and betteletocover
age
te radios
and short
Withy,eVerg
thatbatte
betteer privaccalls
drop ry
qualit
your
to better audio
life.
and distor
evolve
t your audio
tions behind and
range - all at, or strand you with
better cost.
a limita
unpre
You
better
dictab
and
aff
le bette
ord
coverage
privacycan
r comm
and unica
short tion.
quality, better
battery life.
With eVerge ™
digital radios,
a better cost.
leave analogue
You can
limita
tionsaffbehin
ord bette
d andr comm
evolveunica
tion.
to bette
Withy,eVerg
r audio
qualit
betteer™privac
digitayl radios,
leave
and bette
analogue
r range
limitations behin
- all at
a bette
r cost.
d and evolve to
better audio
quality, better
privacy and better
range - all at
a better cost.
INESS
FOR BUS
AT I O N S
MMUNIC
O
C
W
S
I
S
R
E
E
L
L
ESS COM
WIRE
M U N I C AT
IONS FO
R BUSI
NESS
Evolve to bett munications
er communicat
better com
toEvol
ions
os.
with
ions
Evolve
radi
eVer
yicat
vege
-wa
mun
to™er
two
digi
bett
com
tal
talcom
er
digi
twomun
geto™ bett
-wa
ve
os.
eVer
radi
Evol
radi
ions
withwww
os.
with
wayyicat
™ al
.everge.ve
eVer
om
™ ge
twoard.c
rtexs
digit
digit
tand
tand
al
rtexs
twoeVerge
ard.c
ge.ve
way radios.
om
.ever
www
www©with
.everge.ve
tandard.com
rtexs
rtexs
2013
www.everge.ve
tandard.com
Vertex Standa
reserved.
rd, LMR,
rights
Inc. AllInc.
All rights reserve
Standard, LMR,
d.
© 2013
© 2013 Vertex
Vertex Standar Inc. All rights reserved.
d, LMR, Inc. All
Standard, LMR,
rights reserve
© 2013 Vertex
d.
s:
net of Thinggy
r
te
The In
Intertin
rate
et oMf2M
Thstin
adop ng an
gs:
adopting
OLOGY
■ TECHN
eVerge_Evolv
16:12
03/05/2013
16:12
03/05/2013
e_To_Better_A
D_210x184.indd 1
eVerge_Evolve
D_210x184.in dd 1
_To_Be
tter_AD_210x184.indd 1
e_To_Better_A
_210x1 84.indd 1
eVerge_Evolv
_To_Better_AD
eVerge_Evolve
03/05/2013
16:12
03/05/2013
16:12
an S
O L U T I O N M2M strategy
APPLL
IONS ■ S
AA
TT
IO
A P P I CI C
NS ■ SO
LUTIONS
■ TECHN
OLOGY
09/05/2013
14:58
01 Cover_May201
3.indd 1
1
May2013.indd
01 Cover_
09/05/2013
14:58
news • features • back issues
TO REGISTER FOR OUR FORTNIGHTLY
NEWSLETTER PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE
Special feature:
TowerPower - reducing
Africa’s reliance on
diesel, part four
Another battle of the power makers ensues in this latest
edition of TowerPower.
In the hybrid corner, Emerson Network Power describe
a broad portfolio of products and capabilities to provide
hybrid and solar energy to data centres, core and access
sites. In the fuel cell corner, market leaders Ballard make
the case for methanol, a fuel which reduces theft as it has
no alternate use, and highlight the efficient scalability of
their system.
In the wind corner, distributed small wind leaders
UGE propose their Levelised Energy Agreement as
an alternate model for outsourcing cell site energy.
Continuing the business models debate, Flexenclosure
preview their round table at the TowerXchange Meetup
in which they will seek a middle ground between the
pure-capex and the zero-capex contractual models.
Finally, Kiwi-innovators Enatel describe how their energy
solutions help operators and towercos achieve high 9s
uptime, while DAQS introduce their free cooling systems.
Your TowerPower profiles this edition:
88 Emerson optimise critical infrastructure
93 Ballard: when should fuel cells replace diesel?
97 Outsource cell site energy to UGE
103 Flexenclosure’s business model round table
107 Enatel on how to achieve high 9s uptime
114 DAQs on how to cut the cost of air conditioning
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
87
Optimising critical
infrastructure
TowerXchange: Where does Emerson Network
Power fit in the telecoms infrastructure supply
chain?
Emerson Network Power’s solutions for data centres, core and access sites
Keywords: Who’s Who,
Energy, Monitoring &
Management, Capex,
Opex Reduction,
Batteries, Loading,
Data Centres, Air
Conditioning, RoI,
ESCOs, Hybrid Power,
Solar, Dimensioning,
Africa, Americas (South),
Emerson Network Power
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: Emerson Network Power’s
Energy Systems group focuses on the critical
infrastructure for both core and access sites. We
have a broad portfolio of products and solutions
that includes: automatic transfer switches for
utility grid and generator interfaces, AC UPS
systems, DC power for core and access sites,
cooling solutions for data centres, enclosures
for power and equipment, monitoring and
management capabilities, and comprehensive
service offerings.
The breadth of products and services Emerson
Network Power is able to offer is one of our key
differentiators.
Gary Niederpruem & Nevan Witchell, Emerson Network Power
Emerson is a US$25bn conglomerate comprised of five different business platforms,
including Emerson Network Power, which primarily supports telecom and data centre
customers. TowerXchange spoke to two senior executives within Emerson Network
Power’s telecom-focused Energy Systems business to learn about the company’s broad
product and service capabilities.
Read this article to learn:
< Deploying hybrid and solar energy solutions to meet the specific requirements of core and access sites
< Using an ‘integrated solution’ to provide a fast-deployment data centre in a remote region of Africa
< Using base components and building blocks to enable efficient customisation of energy solutions
< The critical role of monitoring and management, backed up by the service capability to resolve problems
88 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What is your installed base in
emerging markets, particularly Africa?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA, Emerson
Network Power: We’ve been operating in SubSahara Africa (SSA) for decades, and our installed
base is in the thousands if not tens of thousands
of product installations. Those installations
support critical infrastructure with DC power,
hybrid solutions, thermal management and
integrated shelter solutions.
Emerson Network Power has sales and service
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
88
representation in most countries in SSA,
sometimes maintaining direct relationships with
operators, at other times working with systems
integrators or partners for power and thermal
management.
TowerXchange: Tell us more about these
‘integrated shelters’.
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA,
Emerson Network Power: We have many types
of integrated shelters; some are on-demand
data centres, central offices or core switching
centres, while others provide the energy and
thermal management infrastructure for smaller
deployments and remote nodes.
We recently had a large project where a customer
needed a core site up and running quickly in a
very remote region. We worked with the CTO and
their technical team to establish how to achieve
their objectives using our technology - starting
with the customers’ pain points is a vital part
of our approach. Since our integrated modular
shelters are designed, built and tested at the
factory, they can be rapidly installed onsite which
was one of the key challenges for this customer.
Thanks to our broad expertise we could take
this project from equipment production to
installation onsite, to full commissioning of the
infrastructure in less than 12 weeks compared
to a traditional brick and mortar installation
which can take up to six months to complete. The
above is backed up by remote monitoring and incountry maintenance and field services.
89 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: How has Emerson Network
Power been able to support your customers in
the battle to reduce Africa’s crippling energy
opex costs?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA,
Emerson Network Power: Emerson Network
Power introduced hybrid energy solutions into
the access network in SSA in 2005, when energy
opex first emerged as a critical issue, and that
had a huge impact. There are many variables that
contribute to defining what each customer thinks
is important at a site - these range from site load
to site locality to the criticality of the site and of
course any planned expansion of the site in the
future.
Furthermore, different operators have different
approaches - some want zero-capex models;
some accept some capex up front, with longerterm opex savings. Some operators believe in
battery preservation to reduce their carbon
footprint, while others take a shorter-term view
on battery life to drive short term OPEX savings.
This is why we look beyond product and focus
on the complete solution. We look at sites on
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
89
for opex savings. When we audit core facilities,
we identify several ways to realise those savings,
whether through cooling, power systems,
electronics, lighting or layout, and almost
always incorporating intelligent monitoring
and controls. Emerson has substantial auditing
and engineering expertise - an area where our
Services team also excels.
TowerXchange: How do you strike a balance
between the need to customise energy
solutions to meet the needs of each site, and
the financial imperative to standardise where
possible to reduce cost and complexity?
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: That’s a constant debate, and our
solution is to offer base components and building
blocks that can be integrated and delivered
relatively easily. We can configure those base
components and building blocks to quickly create
a customised solution.
an individual basis, deploying hybrid and solar
solutions where appropriate, rather than taking
a one-size-fits-all approach across thousands of
sites.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: In core sites, no one situation
is the same; everything is nuanced, and there
can be substantial capex and opex required
for a single facility. However, there also are
substantial - and often untapped - opportunities
90 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA,
Emerson Network Power: If it’s a substantial
network upgrade or greenfield site rollout, we
might take a small sample of sites, surveying the
environment at those sites, and use that input to
push the standardisation of solutions as far out in
front of us as possible.
TowerXchange: What data inputs do you
need to dimension one of those upgrade or
greenfield site rollouts?
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA,
Emerson Network Power: We blend a lot of
technical inputs, factor in whether the customer
is taking a long-term or short-term approach
to RoI, and devise the best solution to meet the
customer’s needs. We usually start with site load,
which isn’t a simple number to identify. The
range can be quite broad, and even sites running
the same equipment in different areas can have
different loads. It’s also important to prepare
a site to cope with the largest potential load
required.
Of course everyone would love to eliminate both
capex and opex, but that’s not realistically going
to work. We work with the customer to find a
reasonable investment with a reasonable RoI
period to ultimately deliver better opex savings
in the long term.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: We also need to consider
location in order to effectively dimension a cell
site. How physically remote a cell site is might
determine whether it uses dual diesel generators
on one extreme or 100% renewables on the
other, and of course grid availability and stability
is key. We have solar profiles and array maps
that predict the number of hours of sunshine
per day to determine whether solar is an option
or not. Another factor is the criticality of the
site - smaller access sites versus critical macro
sites. We consider all of these things.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
90
TowerXchange: Is the zero-capex energy as a
service business model a realistic option in
emerging markets yet?
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: I think there is a market for
some form of capex financing where payment
comes through shared opex savings, but most of
the time the energy service provider has trouble
making the long-term economics work. We have
executed some programmes with financing
involved, but I believe the traditional capex
model will still exist 3-5 years from now. People
are experimenting with the ESCO model, but we
don’t believe it will be the predominant business
model in the near-term. Ultimately we’ll stay
close to our customers and be responsive to their
needs.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the role remote
monitoring and management plays in your
solutions.
Nevan Witchell, Managing Director, SSA,
Emerson Network Power: Remote monitoring
and management is critical everywhere, but
especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are
dealing with remote sites in difficult-to-reach
locations and extreme environments. Anything
that can minimise site visits without impacting
performance is incredibly valuable. Effective
monitoring and management does that.
Additionally, tower operators must improve
visibility into their networks to manage them
91 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
effectively and efficiently, ensure reliability and
deliver their full potential opex savings.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: Monitoring and managing
critical infrastructure is essential. Emerson
Network Power’s monitoring and management
solutions can work with any equipment, however
they deliver a richer set of information and
maximum control when married up with our
own equipment.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you
differentiate Emerson Network Power from
your competitors.
Gary Niederpruem, VP of Global Marketing and
Strategic Planning, Energy Systems, Emerson
Network Power: With the convergence of data
centres and telecommunications, core sites
increasingly will be mixed model applications.
One of Emerson Network Power’s unique
qualities is our ability to provide a broad
portfolio of energy solutions supporting this
evolving, converging space; AC or DC, monitored
or unmonitored, sold or installed.
Emerson is a global company with many global
clients. Even where our clients have a more
localised footprint, we can share best practices
learned worldwide. We have a prevue over
macro trends in different regions that provides
us with unique insights to address customer
problems.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
91
“
DECREASE NETWORK COSTS WHILE
INCREASING RELIABILITY AND EFFICIENCY.
THAT’S THE
We’re not thinly engaged in
different verticals and moving
sideways into telecoms - our
Energy Systems group has 5060 years of domain knowledge
in telecom and data centre
infrastructure, globally as well as
in Africa
Finally, this is what Emerson Network Power
does. We’re not thinly engaged in different
verticals and moving sideways into telecoms our Energy Systems group has 50-60 years of
domain knowledge in telecom and data centre
infrastructure, globally as well as in Africa.
Visit Emerson Network Power at booth #27 at the
TowerXchange Meetup, taking place on October 1
and 2 in Johannesburg
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
92 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Emerson Network Power, the Emerson Network Power logo, Emerson and Consider it Solved are service
marks and trademarks of Emerson Electric Co. or one of its subsidiaries.
“
We’ve invested R&D to develop our monitoring
and management capabilities because we think
visibility is critical. And we have our own service
arm, so we can dispatch our people to resolve any
alarms.
CRITICAL DIFFERENCE.
Hybrid Energy solutions from Emerson Network Power
ensure the best operational cost … always.
Hybrid Energy solutions feature innovative
active site infrastructure management that can
reduce energy consumption significantly to
ensure your network is running at an optimal
level of efficiency and reliability at all times.
EmersonNetworkPower.eu/Hybrid
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
92
When should fuel cells
replace diesel power at emerging
market cell sites?
Fuel cell technology offers a clean, quiet and reliable power solution with a smaller footprint
Under what conditions are fuel cells a viable alternate source of
power compared with diesel generators? How does the Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) and energy logistics processes compare to diesel? To
find out, TowerXchange spoke to the pre-eminent fuel cell company
worldwide, Ballard Power Systems, who have been at the forefront
of fuel cell development for applications such as automotive, telecom
backup power, material handling and buses. More recently Ballard
has added focus on Engineering Services given its unmatched
industry “know how” from working with Daimler and Ford and now
Volkswagen. However, one of Ballard’s key commercial markets is in
telecom, where their fuel cell technology is used to provide power at
unreliable and off-grid cell sites and in emergency situations caused by
natural disasters or extreme weather.
Karim Kassam, VP, Ballard Power Systems
Keywords: Who’s who, Energy, Fuel Cells, O&M, Installation, Capex,
Capacity Enhancements, Fuel Security, Loading, Off-grid, Unreliable Grid,
Hybrid Power, Methanol, Hydrogen, Logistics, Change Management, Site
Visits, Africa, Asia, Americas (South), Vodacom, Inala, Ballard Power
Systems
Read this article to learn:
< What is the ‘sweet spot’ for adoption of fuel cells in terms of relative fuel cost, grid availability, runtime
and site load
< The impact on fuel theft of switching to a fuel with no alternate use
< The capex and installation costs of fuel cells and TCO compared to DG+battery power
< The refuelling logistics and asset lifecycle of fuel cell solutions
< The efficiency of fuel cells as sites expand from single to multiple tenants
93 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce us to yourself
and to Ballard - where do you guys fit in the
telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: One of
my key priorities in this role is to leverage our
products and capabilities in emerging market
opportunities and build strategic alliances
with partners who will deliver our solutions to
telecom providers worldwide.
One of Ballard’s key commercial segments is
telecom power solutions - emergency backup
and supplemental power in areas where grid
power is not effective or that are subject to crisis
situations.
We’ve achieved great traction in disaster prone
areas such as coastal communities vulnerable to
floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, where fuel cell
systems offer extended duration power compared
with batteries and diesel gensets. Fuel cell
systems can run for days before refueling, which
can be critical in disaster recovery contexts.
Fuel cell systems are also effective as a
replacement for diesel gensets at unreliable or
off-grid sites, or where there is a need for cleaner
power solutions with a smaller footprint than
incumbent solutions. Southeast Asia, Africa and
Latin American are key growth markets for the
use of fuel cells as backup or primary power
solutions for telecom cell sites.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
93
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: Fuel cells
produce electricity without combustion, which
means that, unlike internal combustion engines,
they generate little (if any) noise, vibration, air
pollution, or greenhouse gases and operate at
high efficiencies over a wide range of loads.
Unlike batteries, fuel cells do not have a need
for replacement or lengthy recharging when its
fuel is spent. Additionally, since fuel cells store
their fuel in external storage tanks, the maximum
operating range of a fuel cell-powered device is
limited only by the amount of fuel that can be
carried.
One of the main value drivers for fuel cell
technology in Africa is the replacement of
costly diesel generators, and the eradication of
pilferage. Fuels cell systems provide a mitigation
strategy in markets where one of our chosen
fuels, methanol, is available at a lower cost than
diesel. Ballard’s ElectraGenTM-ME methanolfuelled solution is a good choice because there
is no alternate use of the fuel which means fuel
theft ceases to be an issue. In addition, refueling
visits to remote sites can be up to two weeks
apart, depending on the size of the fuel tank,
which means a significant reduction in site visits
and associated opex.
94 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
The benefit of fuel cell solutions
is that they are able to follow the
site load, which improves overall
efficiency... With fuel cell systems,
you simply run the power as you
require it
“
TowerXchange: How does fuel cell technology
compare to DG, DG+battery and solar-hybrid
primary and backup power solutions for cell
sites?
The main advantage of fuel cells over wind and
solar power is that you are no longer dependent
on weather. With a fuel cell system you can
access reliable power as needed rather than
having to wait for the correct weather conditions.
TowerXchange: What’s the sweet spot for your
solutions in terms of grid availability?
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: The
business case for investing in our fuel cell
solutions is particularly compelling at sites
requiring a minimum of 10 days between
refueling visits, and where grid power is
available no more than 6-8 hours per day.
TowerXchange: And what’s the sweet spot for
your solutions in terms of site load?
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: The
benefit of fuel cell solutions is that they are able
to follow the site load, which improves overall
efficiency. Unlike diesel generators, it is efficient
to oversize the power solution from the initial
installation because it will only deliver the
output required. For example, we can install our
2.5kW ElectraGenTM-ME fuel cell system, run it
at 800w at an efficient cost per hour, and have
the capacity ready to add a second and third BTS
without the need for additional capex as power
requirements increase. Ballard also offers a 5kW
ElectraGenTM-ME system. With fuel cell systems,
you simply run the power as you require it.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the capital
investment required to install fuel cells at cell
sites.
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: The cost
of fuel cell power has fallen by approximately
30% per year over the last five years. While the
initial capital cost may be similar or slightly
above that of a diesel generator, the total cost
of ownership benefits outweigh the initial
investment. Positive payback over the fuel cell
system lifecycle are mainly driven by reduced
maintenance requirements, reduced cooling
expense, longer lifetime of the fuel cell system
and the elimination of costs due to generator and
fuel theft.
TowerXchange: Talk us through the process of
installing fuel cell power at cell sites.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
94
ElectraGen™-ME Total Cost of Ownership
• Total cost
NASDAQ:BLDP
z
TSX:BLD
• • Reformed
Total costmethanol fuel cell solution
• Running
11 andmethanol
24 hours
per
day
TM
• Reformed
fuel
cell
ElectraGen
-ME Total Cost
ofsolution
Ownership
• External
tank11
1,000
liters
• Running
and 24
hours per day
Total cost
• External tank 1,000 liters
TowerXchange: There’s a preconception that
the refueling logistics of fuel cells can be as
complex and costly as diesel - tell us about the
• <Economic
benefits
process and change management implications
Reformed methanol fuel cell solution < Running 11 and 24 hours per day < External tank 1,000 liters
•
Economic
benefits
of using fuel cells.
• Positive payback over lifecycle, driven by: reduced maintenance requirements; reduced cooling expense;
Economic
benefits
• Positive
payback
over lifecycle,
driven
reduced
maintenance
requirements;
reduced cooling expense;
longer
lifetime
associated
with fuel
cell by:
system;
and
reduced fuel
theft issues
< Positive payback
over lifecycle,
driven
by: reduced
maintenance
reduced cooling
longer lifetime
associated
with fuel
cell system;
and reducedrequirements;
fuel theft issues
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
• Savings
grow
linearly
with number
of sites
expense;
longer
lifetime
associated
with fuel
cell system; and reduced fuel theft issues
Development, Ballard Power Systems: The
• Savings grow linearly with number of sites
< Savings grow linearly with number of sites
refueling logistics of hydrogen can be a bit more
$600,000
$600,000
challenging. Hydrogen is an excellent choice for
$30,000
$30,000
$500,000
5kW
/
11
emergency backup power where you require
$500,000
5kW / 11
$25,000$25,000
HOURS/DAY
HOURS/DAY
a system to run for up to 72 hours but very
$20,000$20,000
$400,000
$400,000
infrequently. If the requirement for power is
$15,000$15,000
Running1111Hours
HoursPer
Per
Running
$300,000
$300,000
5kW / 245kW / 24 more frequent, such as on a daily basis, our
$10,000$10,000
Day
Day
HOURS/DAY
HOURS/DAY
methanol-fuelled solution is a better fit.
$5,000
Running 24 Hours Per
$0
$0
Running 24 Hours Per
Day
Day
$200,000
$200,000
$100,000
The nice thing about methanol is that the
refueling process is similar to diesel - it’s a liquid
fuel, with a hub and spoke distribution model,
so the change management challenges are
minimal. One of the reasons we work through
$100,000
$0
$0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: In Africa,
the installation cost of the fuel cell system is
typically less than 10% of the cost of the fuel cell
system itself.
Installation is simple; you lay down a pad, install
the fuel cell system, and attach an external tank if
needed based on site specific requirements.
Local site maintenance technicians can be
trained to install the solution - there’s no need for
scarce, expensive, niche technical expertise.
95 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What is the typical asset
May 21, 2013
lifecycle of your solutions?
z
19
“
May 21, 2013 z 19
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: We are
continually focused on product development;
making sure that we are responding to market
requirements and delivering value to our
customers. So where five years ago the forecast
lifetime might have been 1,500-2,000 running
hours, today our fuel cells can last 10,000 plus
hours, which means you can go 3-5 years without
having to replace the fuel cell stack if you are
running the system at 8 hours or less per day.
five years ago the forecast
lifetime might have been 1,5002,000 running hours, today our
fuel cells can last 10,000 hours,
which means you can go 3-5 years
without having to replace the fuel
cell stack
“
$5,000
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
95
“
We’ve got over 300 sites with
fuel cell solutions installed with
Vodacom - we’ve probably got
close to a couple of MWs of fuel
cells installed at sites in South
Africa today
“
local channel partners in emerging markets is
that they are able to locally coordinate fueling
logistics, which includes validating and approving
trusted fuel suppliers to assure the quality of fuel
as well as the delivery of fuel to the sites.
partnerships under discussion. Ballard doesn’t
compete with our channel partners - our role is to
provide the technology, and our channel partners
install and maintain our solutions according to
the telco’s or towerco’s need.
TowerXchange: Is the transfer of assets from
operators to independent towercos good news
for companies like Ballard?
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: We think
so. They have different perspectives on energy
opex. Towercos tend to think of the cost of
power per minute, and they think about energy
solutions as a service rather than as capex.
Towercos look at Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
so higher upfront capex solutions with payout
downstream tend to be viewed more favourably
by towercos than by MNOs, where we often find
TowerXchange: Tell us about your footprint of
installed systems in Africa?
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: We’ve got
over 300 sites with fuel cell solutions installed
with Vodacom - we’ve probably got close to a
couple of MWs of fuel cells installed at sites in
South Africa today. We expect to be deploying
approximately 100 sites per year, and are
currently looking at some larger deployments
beyond South Africa over the next 12 months.
We are currently working with Inala in South
Africa, and have a couple of additional African
96 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Ballard’s ElectraGenTM-ME installed by Vodacom in South Africa
one part of supply chain team deals with opex,
another deals with capex.
So this challenges us to come up with a financing
mechanism that enables Ballard to be flexible to
meet different clients’ unique requirements.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you
differentiate Ballard’s solutions from other
alternate energy backup power solutions for
cell sites.
Karim Kassam, VP, Corporate & Business
Development, Ballard Power Systems: The
reliability of fuel cell systems is a major
advantage in a critical application area like
wireless telecom service, compared to lead-acid
batteries or diesel generators. And, our fuel
cell systems are capable of providing power
for an extended duration. So, with minimal
maintenance requirements, these performance
advantages are available to telecom customers as
an attractive financial alternative to traditional
solutions. Additionally, we have a unique value
proposition in markets where telecoms and
ESCOs are looking for power beyond the 6-8
hours per day that the grid might be available;
and our solutions are often used in disaster relief
scenarios where power is required for days at a
time.
Ballard’s fuel cell systems are cost competitive,
convenient and effective. Telecoms customers
who need reliable power they can depend on
should consider fuel cells as an optimal solution
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
96
Outsourcing cell site energy
UGE announces the Levelised Energy Agreement, a new business model for
the outsourcing of cell site energy
Nick Blitterswyk grew up in a nature reserve,
where his parents were caretakers, so whilst
working in the finance industry, he sought a
new challenge with a focus on sustainability.
Nick founded Urban Green Energy (UGE) in
2008, with an initial focus on distributed hybrid
energy solutions, growing UGE to become
market leaders in small wind by 2012, which
they’ve used as a launching pad for a focus on
telecoms.
Nick Blitterswyk and David Droz, UGE
TowerXchange spoke to Nick and his colleague
David Droz, an engineer with experience of
liaising between engineering, sales and R&D.
David is spearheading UGE’s entry into the
telecoms market.
Keywords: Who’s Who, Energy, Installation, Investment, Opex Reduction, Risk, Business Model, Off-grid,
Unreliable Grid, ESCOs, Hybrid Power, Renewables, Solar, Wind, DG Runtime, Dimensioning, Infrastructure
Sharing, Africa, China, TTCP, Urban Green Energy
Read this article to learn:
< How UGE conducts a resource assessment to specify a reliable solution combining solar, wind,
batteries and DG
< The flexibility and payback of investing in right-sized, scalable hybrid energy solutions
< A comparison of PPA and LEA business models
< How many cell sites does an investment of US $20m secure for a RESCO?
97 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce our readers to
Urban Green Energy (UGE), particularly your
recent foray into telecoms.
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: By early 2012, UGE
had become market leaders in distributed wind
turbines, with experience in over 70 countries. We
started looking for new industrial markets where
our knowledge could be applied to solve new
challenges. We latched on to the telecoms market,
attracted by the critical need for sustainable energy
solutions at a large number of remote sites. With
reliability critical, we felt we could provide a more
robust solution by bringing solar and wind together.
UGE announced our telecoms solutions at Mobile
World Congress 2012.
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: The growth of
our telecoms department and capability happened
organically as a result of the first telecoms sites
installed within our partner network. When we
reviewed those projects, and the types of clients
they represented, we solidified our message and
developed a full-blown strategy for telecoms.
Our first project of scale was with the Chinese Navy,
which manages proprietary communication sites
along the coast of China and in the South China Sea.
Many of these sites were remote, off-grid and had
been dependent on diesel, so they needed a reliable
energy solution that was a fusion of solar, wind and
batteries.
Early on it was clear there was a lot of interest
in this segment, even before we launched UGE
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
97
Telecoms. Alcatel-Lucent and Zain were among
early potential clients, having contacted us looking
for a solution, which led to us building out the
Fusion platform for telecoms and launching UGE
Telecoms.
TowerXchange: What are the typical use cases
for UGE technology at telecom sites?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: Every site has its
own requirements in terms of kW, and we try to
be flexible to meet those requirements. That said,
the sweet spot for distributed renewables like ours
tends to be off-grid, smaller scale sites below 10kW,
that’s where we can deliver the fastest payback and
best IRR. The higher the cost per delivered litre of
diesel, the more renewables can save.
We offer customised solutions with solar, wind,
batteries and Diesel Generators (DG) all core parts
of the anatomy of our Fusion systems. How much
of each energy source is used is what gives us our
flexibility, and the energy mix is tailored according
to the resources available onsite. We conduct a
comprehensive resource assessment to determine
the sun and wind available and to define what the
approach is going to be.
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: Let me give you an
example. In the case of a client we’re hoping to
close in Q3, there are 100 sites, each with slightly
different requirements. Within the portfolio,
we’ll look at every site, modeling the correlation
of wind and sun, and the impact of seasonal
considerations on energy logistics in order to come
up with a reliable solution. Reliability is an order of
98 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
UGE’s installation for Verizon
magnitude higher priority for our telecoms clients,
because if the power goes out, the revenue stops.
TowerXchange: Does UGE focus exclusively on
off-grid sites?
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: No - we’ve deployed
solutions at a number of sites with unreliable grid
as well. These sites were relying on diesel for a
good portion of the energy needs, providing just
as much of a headache to our client. In addition,
for a new site the cost of connecting to the grid
can be really high. Solutions like UGE’s Levelised
Energy Agreement Program (LEAP) provide a better
way. Oftentimes you can provide a better energy
experience without needing to build that costly yet
still unreliable link to the grid.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
98
Energy OPEX
200
LEA
Current Engery Cost
100
0
5
Time
TowerXchange: How do you conduct a resource
assessment?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: Our resource
assessment capabilities are one of our key
differentiators from RESCOS and other distributed
renewable energy providers. Assessment planning
is all about understanding the topology of a
network.
One of the keys is that we can remotely evaluate
almost any site to a high enough degree to sign an
MOU with a client for deployment of the LEAP. We
draw upon the help of partners plus input data
from the tower operator to enable us to understand
the existing equipment onsite and to apply a
baseline to the energy model. We then use statistical
and environmental analyses to model changing
requirements over a typical 10-year contract.
So based on these models, we can iterate and
99 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
10
understand the design feasibility and cost impact of
adding a little more solar or another wind turbine,
for example, if additional tenants are added to the
site.
TowerXchange: How do you minimise the cost
impact of deploying customised rather than
standardised solutions?
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: Someone within
our team recently coined the term “making
customisation scalable” and that is really what
we’ve been able to do. At the heart of it is using our
stochastic modeling techniques to drive the cost
down.
There’s a tradeoff between risk and conservatism if you oversize by 50% or more because you’re not
sure how the site will behave, then you’re paying
a lot more for that system. Right now we believe
TowerXchange: How do you ensure scalability
for multiple tenants?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: One of the trends
we’ve been paying close attention to is the growth
“
Right now we believe companies are
making a choice between grossly
oversizing the energy solution and
taking a large risk by sizing them
closer to their expectation of how
the site will react without fully
understanding the risks
“
300
companies are making a choice between grossly
oversizing the energy solution and taking a large
risk by sizing them closer to their expectation of
how the site will react without fully understanding
the risks. If you are only designing one site that can
make sense, but when managing a portfolio of sites
you are bound to have issues, and it only takes a
small percentage of problem sites for it to become a
very big problem for the client. What our stochastic
model allows us to do is to really thoroughly
understand the risks of each and every site to
ensure that we can ensure uptime without the costs.
By understanding those risks we don’t know longer
need to balance conservatism and price.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
99
UGE proposes a new model for the outsourcing of
cell site energy.
UGE’s Levelised Energy Agreement (LEA)
proposes a partnership between the customer
(in telecoms this would be an operator or tower
company); the local installation and maintenance
subcontractor; LEAf-1 their current US $20m
fund; and UGE themselves as the ESCO.
First, UGE works with customers to determine
a levelised cost for a small network segment.
Once the Levelised Energy Agreement (LEA) is in
place, they implement and maintain sites for the
entire contract period. The customer simply pays
the monthly fee to have all energy needs taken
care of. Upon success of first network segment,
expansion to greater number of sites will follow.
As traditional fuel costs continue to rise, energy
savings will increase exponentially.
of tower sharing. When designing for scalability,
you’ve got to consider the site as a whole. If the
tower owner installs our Fusion system under our
Levelised Energy Agreement (LEA), then what will
happen if they later want to add additional tenants
to the tower and increase the energy need? Our
technology platform allows for this additional build
out, and the LEA allows for adding capacity as well
100 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
to ensure these aren’t a problem. For our clients
this shouldn’t be any more difficult than if you are
asking your cellphone provider to add additional
services to your contract. We will take care of the
dirty work.
At sites where the mobile network operator is the
key customer, they become the beneficiary and the
savings get passed to them - adopting the LEA gives
that operator a competitive edge.
Independent tower companies are leveling the
playing field, with some towers having up to 5
tenants, giving smaller operators the opportunity to
benefit from renewables as well.
TowerXchange: What is an ‘Energy Service
Agreement’ and how does your ‘Levelised Energy
Agreement’ differ from other ESCO business
models?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: The Power
Purchase Agreement (PPA) ESCO business model is
now familiar to most people: the PPA defines a fixed
cost per unit of energy, allowing the customer to
escape the capex outlay required to first acquire a
new energy system.
UGE wants to align our interests with our clients’,
delivering the maximum return at low cost. The
problem with the PPA structure is that it leaves
money on the table for energy that is generated, not
sold, which ultimately limits the savings that can be
achieved. Furthermore, our clients’ revenue doesn’t
change based on how much energy is consumed,
so we feel the fluctuating nature of a PPA doesn’t
fit very well with what our clients are looking
for. Instead, what really matters for our customers
is uptime; i.e. reliability of the site.
Our approach recognises that operators want to
stabilise opex costs - they don’t want to be exposed
to the risk and unpredictability of energy. So
we propose a model where we fix costs for each
portfolio of sites and start the outsourcing process.
The client is able to give up the need to source and
manage their energy, and we fix the price and
assume the risk.
This initial portfolio gives us the opportunity to
quickly help our client and understand their energy
supply issues. Using this on the ground experience
and our proprietary modeling tools, we fine-tune
“
The problem with the PPA structure
is that it leaves money on the
table for energy that is generated,
not sold, which ultimately limits
the savings that can be achieved.
Furthermore, our clients’ revenue
doesn’t change based on how much
energy is consumed, so we feel the
fluctuating nature of a PPA doesn’t
fit very well with what our clients
are looking for
“
How UGE’s Levelised Energy
Agreement Program (LEAP)
accelerates the implementation of
multi-site deployments
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 100
TowerXchange: Tell us about installation and
the integration of renewables with existing
generators and batteries.
Levelized Cost of Energy (in US$/kwh)
$0.60
$0.50
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: Though it’s
in everyone’s best interest to leverage existing
equipment where possible, we often have to replace
legacy equipment, either upfront or over time.
The installation of batteries has often not been
well planned, so an audit is usually needed. We
get in to the sites, learn about them, then press
forward with the technology that will provide the
best experience. Furthermore, we know space is a
constraint; our solution is often smaller and more
efficient than the legacy equipment we replace.
$0.40
$0.30
Solar only
Low Wind + Solar
$0.20
$0.10
Mid Wind + Solar
$0.00
0
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Renewable Penetration (based on fossil fuel substitution)
the energy solutions to yield the optimal result in
terms of reliability and cost, then expand the rollout
across a larger number of sites. Therefore the
interests of the tower operator and the RESCO have
been mutually aligned.
TowerXchange: Talk to us about the process of
engaging with a new client - starting with that
initial 50-site proof of concept.
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: It’s not really a proof of
concept, it’s just a way to more quickly help out the
tower operator to overcome problems maintaining
a stable energy supply, such as supply chain issues,
fluctuating diesel prices and theft. We could look at
101 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
50 or 500 sites, and of course we’d like to be talking
about 4-figures of sites as well.
In emerging markets, we’ll take over the whole
supply chain, and simply charge the tower operator
an affordable monthly bill. This process takes time,
so we’re looking for long-term relationships. Once
we have the initial agreement signed, we get started
with upgrading the energy infrastructure of the
sites, such as adding or enhancing distributed
renewable energy (DRE) products, power
controllers, monitoring systems, et cetera. With the
multi-year energy agreement in place we’re able
to leverage our financiers to invest in a reliable
solution that will stand the test of time.
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: Our approach speeds
up deployment. Tower operators know it’s a
headache and it’s expensive to deploy hybrid
solutions. Under UGE’s Levelised Energy Agreement
the tower operator knows what they’ll pay each
month, they get a reliable service, and we’ll take
ownership of the energy infrastructure, which
alleviates energy capex and opex concerns,
enabling tower operators to focus on their core
competencies.
TowerXchange: How is UGE financed?
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: In early August 2013,
UGE announced our partnership with Tamra
Tacoma Capital Partners (TTCP), raising a dedicated
US $20 million fund for wind and solar DRE projects
in the telecoms sector, particularly to finance our
LEA program, and to speed up deployments. UGE
is currently a private company and has had great
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 101
TowerXchange: How did you persuade your
financiers that UGE could manage the execution
risk that comes with doing business in emerging
markets?
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: Over the past five years
we’ve grown to become the leading small wind
company in the world. This wouldn’t be possible
without overcoming implementation challenges
for our clients, and that is what we have excelled
at. With testimonials from major clients such as
GE, Hilton, BMW, Nissan, Toyota and Ford, and
growing experience with telco clients such as
Claro and Verizon, it was something our investors
were excited about. We may have an appetite for
working in regions without good credit ratings, but
our clients are credit worthy as they are typically
some of the largest, most successful customers in
those regions, and our credentials breed confidence
among our investors.
Ultimately we focus on good service, and on
creating a company culture that makes us easy
to work with, and this has built upon itself as we
continue to grow and succeed in DRE.
TowerXchange: How many sites does US $20m get
you?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: The cost of building
out each site can vary by region, but US$20m will
cover 200-500 sites which we’re looking to have
102 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
fully deployed in 2014. That’s a wide bracket
because the power requirement can vary so much
from a small, remote, single tenant site in a cool
part of Scandinavia to a five tenant site in a very hot
region of India where the active equipment and air
conditioning load is much higher.
TowerXchange: What is UGE’s installed base
worldwide?
correct. We have a project there that is currently in
the planning stage.
In this case we’re managing and installing
equipment at a small number of pilot sites in
Kenya to get data back and demonstrate the
technology. This project came about before the LEA
was announced and we are currently working with
the client to understand how it can be scaled into
LEA.
Nick Blitterswyk, CEO, UGE: Across all sectors our
solutions are deployed at over 1,500 sites. Telecoms
is one of our newer areas, accounting for less than
100 sites, but the number is growing fast, and we
expect to eclipse 100 by a good margin this year.
One of the biggest challenges has been how to scale
from pilot to full rollout. Thanks to the LEA, tower
operators don’t need to worry, UGE will manage the
supply chain, and we’ll take the risk from day one.
TowerXchange: I understand you have a
deployment planned in Kenya - what can you tell
us about that?
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you
would differentiate UGE from other off-grid
energy equipment providers?
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: Yes, that is
David Droz, AVP Telecoms, UGE: We are the
only RESCO that goes all the way upstream. UGE
manages the entire energy supply for each tower,
from manufacturing wind turbines, to initial site
analysis and deployment, to ongoing management,
ensuring reliable and affordable energy supply
at minimum hassle to the tower owner. UGE
architects sites, we provide finance, and under the
same agreement we provide implementation. A
big part of this is having a robust overall system
encompassing different energy sources to provide
a reliable result. Siting small wind is a challenge.
UGE has the ability to remotely assess sites, and to
get technology into the field. We have over 1,500
hybrid wind and solar sites in the field. We see
telecom as the ideal customer
“
UGE manages the entire energy supply
for each tower, from manufacturing
wind turbines, to initial site analysis
and deployment, to ongoing
management, ensuring reliable and
affordable energy supply at minimum
hassle to the tower owner
“
support from our investors that has allowed us to
grow into a leader in DRE. On the horizon is an IPO
which will help facilitate our future expansion.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 102
Optimising the relationship
between towercos and hybrid
systems suppliers
Integrating monitoring and management, access control, maintenance, asset,
inventory and HR management in an end to end managed service
Independent towercos are still a relatively new
phenomenon in Africa, and their relationships with critical
hybrid energy partners are subject to a wide variety of
business models and contractual relationships. David King
and Ann Louise Johansson of Flexenclosure, one of Africa’s
leading hybrid systems providers, will host a round
table at the TowerXchange Meetup in which participants
will seek to define business models and commercial
relationships that target the common enemy of site OPEX
and at the same time create the maximum value for the
towercos and hybrid energy innovators.
Ann Louise Johansson, VP Strategy, Flexenclosure
Keywords: TowerXchange Meetup Preview, Energy, Capex,
Deal Structure, Opex Reduction, QoS, Business Model,
ESCOs, Hybrid Power, RMS, Spare Parts, Infrastructure
Sharing, Africa, Flexenclosure
Read this article to learn:
< How to structure contractual relationships between towercos and hybrid energy companies to create
maximum value
< How the relationship evolves as additional tenants and new equipment are added
< The pros and cons of capex and zero-capex business models and options in the ‘middle ground’
< Post-sale installation, maintenance and support
103 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce the topic of
your round table at the TowerXchange Meetup.
David King, CEO, Flexenclosure: Flexenclosure
and our competitors come to the market with
products to save energy OPEX, while the towerco
has expertise around site acquisition, tenancy sales
and improving site profitability. The question is
what form of contractual relationship enables both
parties to create the most value?
We’re looking forward to hosting a debate about
the best ways for hybrid energy system providers
and towercos to work together, how to structure
contracts and how to share responsibilities so as
to leverage maximum savings from hybrid power
systems.
We want to discuss the different business models
for governing the provision of hybrid energy, as
well as exploring the services that towercos want
from their hybrid system provider. How will the
need for services evolve over time as towercos
mature, as the scale of their deployments grow, as
the capacity of their sites and their tenancy ratios
increase? Will they be looking for a larger range
of services, or do they see themselves becoming
experts in managing hybrid systems?
TowerXchange: How is value created and shared
between towercos and hybrid energy providers?
David King, CEO, Flexenclosure: Value is created
by reducing the cost of running a site. The most
substantial saving is achieved by transporting
and burning less diesel. The other key factor
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 103
“
Zero-CAPEX, or ESCO, business
models can get stuck because
the contract between the
parties gets complicated or
because neither party is able to
fund the necessary equipment
“
is reliability - reducing or even eliminating
the potential for faults that would result in
downtime. Additional site visits are expensive and
compromising QoS and revenue generation for
operators often incurs penalties under towercos’
Service Level Agreements.
The combination of these potential savings across a
large network of sites amounts to huge amounts of
money. However it’s important to realise that these
savings are gained incrementally hour-by-hour,
day by day and site-by-site. It is not enough for a
hybrid system to work well in some sites for some
of the time. Maximum value is created only if the
system is able to provide sustained performance
and reliability over a long time across an entire
network of sites.
104 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
The value created can be shared in different
ways, but for the sake of simplicity we can divide
business models in three main groups. At one
end of the spectrum is the pure purchase where
a hybrid power system is sold as a piece of
equipment to the towerco and at the other end
of the spectrum is the Energy Service Company
(ESCO) model where the towerco would purchase
power and not own the equipment. In between
these extremes is a model based on the purchase of
equipment by the towerco but also including a KPI
or SLA to ensure it performs at the promised level. TowerXchange: What are the pros and cons of
the business models currently being used?
David King, CEO, Flexenclosure: The pure purchase
type of agreement has not always been successful.
If results are disappointing it can sometimes be
difficult to identify and agree upon the problem.
Was under-performance of the system was to
blame? Was it that peripheral equipment was substandard? Was the system configured correctly and
integrated optimally with existing equipment? In
such circumstances the purchaser can be left high
and dry, feeling the vendor has taken their money
and run.
However, there are also challenges at the other end
of the spectrum. Zero-CAPEX, or ESCO, business
models can get stuck because the contract between
the parties gets complicated or because neither
party is able to fund the necessary equipment.
We are searching for the middle ground whereby
the towerco and the hybrid system supplier
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 104
We’re looking forward to hosting an open
discussion on towercos’ preferences regarding
business models and exploring the optimal value
creation scenarios for all parties. In addition
to exploring different models it will be equally
important to discuss how the models would be
implemented and whether they would need to
evolve as the towerco grows.
TowerXchange: Going back to your point
services, can you describe the various service
components for hybrid power systems,
especially what you call “local optimisation
services” and who should do them?
Ann Louise Johansson, VP Strategy, Flexenclosure:
Let’s first divide the service components in to
three groups: Installation and Commissioning,
Operations and Maintenance, and Support. We
are usually responsible for the Installation
and Commissioning of the equipment. We do it
ourselves or we send our experts to train our local
partners on both the equipment and the tools. This
105 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
services partner overcome these challenges and
in addition we have the tools to enable remote
monitoring and management.
In our round table discussion
we’ll explore how to structure a
business model that will create
value for all stakeholders
and stand the test of time,
particularly as more tenants
are added and more kilowatts
are needed at each tower
“
collaborate in such a way that they each focus
on what they do best, there is a high degree of
mutual trust and there are joint rewards. Ideas
that we have discussed with towercos include
KPI driven models where Flexenclosure provides
some “local optimisation services” to ensure that
the equipment hits the KPIs, and if it does we
receive a performance bonus. We believe that this
makes sense because we fundamentally know
our equipment better than our customers and our
involvement, at least for a period of time, can lead
to greater savings.
results in fast and safe procedures. For example,
we measured the time it took for cutover at an
upgrade installation in Nigeria last week and it was
only 7 minutes! The tool we use is eManager, which
is our remote monitoring and management system.
The Operations and Maintenance is usually
handled by the towerco and/or its managed
services partner. The part we can play as an
equipment supplier is to provide technical and
behavioural training to the services partner. For
example if there is an older genset, which a site
guard is often manually starting and stopping,
then there is a risk that the site guard continues to
interfere even after the hybrid system is in place.
We have the expertise and experience to help the
And that leads me to the third service component:
Support.
As a hybrid system supplier we provide what
we call RSSM (Remote Support and Software
Maintenance) where we provide hotline
support, access to system experts and software
maintenance. We enhance RSSM by providing
remote network audits and KPI reporting using our
eManager monitoring and management system.
With several hundred of our eSites deployed
across Africa, we have significant experience of
the kinds of practical problems on site that can
limit performance and how best to overcome
them. And going back to David’s point about where
the value comes from, we know that towercos
will only get full benefit from our equipment if it
performs as expected each and every day at each
and every site. With this in mind we can provide
“local optimisation service” resources - a team
focused on taking the output from eManager and
using that data to maximise network-wide system
performance.
We can do this ourselves or through our local O&M
partners. The local optimisation service would
produce and advise on eSite system audit reports,
as well as go to a site for hands-on performance
improvement work when needed. Local services
would also include support to the towerco’s first
line support as well as support for eManger
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 105
functionality and spare part inventory.
TowerXchange: How will these business models
and working relationships between towercos,
hybrid energy and managed services providers
need to evolve in the future?
Ann Louise Johansson, VP Strategy, Flexenclosure:
In our round table discussion we’ll explore how to
structure a business model that will create value
for all stakeholders and stand the test of time,
particularly as more tenants are added and more
kilowatts are needed at each tower. What happens
when tenants modernise, adding next generation
active equipment? Will towercos change their
lease rates to incentivise tenants to use low energy
systems?
The key for a successful business model is to align
the interests and responsibilities between towercos,
hybrid energy and managed service providers so
that we all work together with the focus on what
is mutually most important. And that, of course,
will be to achieve the best-possible reduction of site
OPEX, and sustaining that reduction over time. For
example, assume it costs around $40,000 per year
to run a site in Africa. Introducing a hybrid power
system that reduces the cost by 80% would deliver
a saving of $32,000 per year per site, or $16,000,000
per year for a network of 500 sites. However, if over
time that performance only averaged 60% rather
than 80%, the lost value would be $20,000,000 over
five years! A very strong argument for “sustained”
performance to come front and centre in the
working relationships between towercos, hybrid
energy and managed services providers
106 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
eSite k10
Hybrid power for shared sites
t Industry leading OPEX reduction
t Optimised single cabinet solution
t Full remote network management
Providing new power to the telecom industry
www.flexenclosure.com/tower
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 106
How to achieve high 9s
uptime at unreliable grid and
off-grid cell sites
Improving efficiency and extending the lifecycle of gensets and batteries
Rectifiers, converters, inverters, chargers and
controllers are often critical to the efficient
operation and integration of multiple energy
sources at unreliable grid and off-grid cell
sites. One of the pioneers in this field is New
Zealand developer and manufacturer Enatel,
who you’ll find exhibiting at the TowerXchange
Meetup on October 1 and 2. We caught up with
Damien O’Regan to find out more about Enatel’s
capabilities.
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel Energy
Keywords: Who’s Who, Energy, Opex Reduction,
Batteries, Loading, QoS, Uptime, Off-grid, Unreliable
Grid, RoI, ESCOs, Hybrid Power, Renewables, Solar,
DG Runtime, Dimensioning, Outdoor Equipment,
Rectifiers, Africa, Enatel
Read this article to learn:
< How Enatel have overcome the consolidation of backup power to deliver high 9s uptime
< How to optimise the relationship between the genset and batteries to extend lifecycles
< The importance of modularity and scalability in meeting the different and changing
requirements of individual sites
< Designing systems that are pre-wired for the integration of solar
107 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Where do Enatel fit in the
telecoms infrastructure supply chain?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: We are a New Zealand-based energy
equipment manufacturer. Enatel Energy designs
and manufactures a range of rectifiers, converters,
inverters, solar and wind chargers across multiple
voltages for telecoms and industrial applications.
Enatel is made up of three divisions. Enasolar
manufacture a range of grid-tied solar inverters
whilst the Motive Power group supply a suite of
modular, high efficiency fast chargers. These are
able to automatically identify the types of battery
connected over powerline and apply the necessary
voltage and charge profile. A long association with
leading battery manufacturers has been a crucial
contributor in identifying industry challenges and
driving charger innovation.
TowerXchange: What are your channels to
market?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: We are headquartered in Christchurch,
New Zealand, with direct representation via an
operation in Croatia who manage parts of Europe;
with Enatel Shenzhen responsible for the domestic
Chinese market. However our primary business
model is one that identifies and supports highly
capable local partners. The results and potential is
evident, for example in one instance I worked with
a distributer that grew from 3 to 200 staff, driven
primarily by the demand for DC power systems.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 107
Strong relationships are crucial in tailoring
systems to meet specific requirements within local
environments - Enatel supplies power modules and
system building blocks for integration. Alternatively,
turnkey indoor and outdoor solutions are available.
Our designers and decision makers are only ever
one call away - we maintain very high levels of
engagement, support and training.
TowerXchange: What is the ‘sweet spot’ for
Enatel’s solutions - on-grid, unreliable grid, offgrid? What’s the typical load?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: Our typical applications have historically
been grid connected standby power solutions where
operators demand the highest levels of uptime.
Demand and growth in emerging markets meant
less grid dependence. Providing energy solutions
for off-grid sites is a more recent challenge and
one that allows us to apply innovative solutions to
produce demonstrable and desired benefits
Our portfolio can support any load requirements
from a 100W to 100s of kW’s, but in a hybrid context
we most frequently find ourselves supporting
1-3kW loads. Whilst it’s possible to go outside this,
careful dimensioning and evaluation of economics
is necessary.
TowerXchange: Has backup power become a
commoditised market?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: Within telco networks it’s a fair conclusion
108 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
based on volumes supplied, system generalisations
and dollar per Watt erosions over past decades.
However, sufficient and sometimes significant
differentiation can still remain, particularly with
the emergence of niche applications and recognition
of particular capabilities. Commodification
risks ‘me-too’ products that fail to suitably meet
industry principles and foundations. Systems may
aesthetically and technically appear similar, but
that’s largely a consequence of industry drivers.
Clear distinctions normally exist at nuts, bolts and
deliverables level. We’ve refused to compromise the bottom line is we must be able to support and
maintain high 9s availability.
Tower companies target uptimes between 2 to
4 nines (99% to 99.99%) which represent site
downtimes of three days to one hour per year. For
partial grid and off-grid sites, delivering higher
nines goes beyond rectifier MTBF’s and design
architectures. It must in combination also include
capabilities that address application specific issues,
for example, a dependency in diesel generator
uptime, information insight and self-healing
elements. The towerco model is attractive because
of the focus on operators, where delivering QoS
means that maximising site uptime is a natural
caveat.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 108
“
For CDC hybrids, fast recharge
requirements can overload
and stall generators. The DC
power community addresses
this by limiting battery recharge
parameters, sequentially starting
rectifiers and delaying aircon
startups to avoid excessive inrush
currents
“
Logically, commoditised system limitations can
struggle to meet OPEX drivers where the challenges
can be far more broad and complicated. Enatel
responded to commoditisation by diversifying
with an increased focus on partial grid and offgrid applications, viewing network expansion
and ruralification in emerging markets as an
opportunity to directly leverage our core DNA.
Blending and optimising multiple energy
inputs requires the right product portfolio and
expertise, but this in association with our specific
development efforts has yielded unique capabilities.
TowerXchange: How do you integrate renewable
energy and CDC batteries without placing
excessive wear on the diesel generator?
109 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: The vast majority of all off-grid BTS
outages relate to generator issues. Almost total site
dependence can rest solely on a generator. For CDC
hybrids, fast recharge requirements can overload
and stall generators. The DC power community
addresses this by limiting battery recharge
parameters, sequentially starting rectifiers and
delaying aircon startups to avoid excessive inrush
currents. The relationship between the generator
and cyclic batteries is critical - it necessitates tight
but adaptive management. Each element is in
continuous change within an environment that also
never remains constant.
Increased emphasis must be placed on power
conversion devices, particularly as their
performance and management capabilities are
instrumental in significantly extending lifetimes.
Our SYNERGi solution automates and optimises
energy generation. During installation, one needs
to simply enter the generator nameplate kVA, push
the start button to commence the commissioning
charge - no further human intervention required
to revisit and retune. It automatically caters for
variables which may be due to tenants, altitude,
wear, weather and diesel quality. It will regularly
determine what parameters are required for
optimum energy output and automatically adjust to
maximise them.
TowerXchange: Is there still a place in the long
term planning of cell site energy for diesel
generators at off-grid cell sites?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: Constant speed AC diesel generators have
a bad reputation. Not totally without justification
given obvious environmental and economic
impacts, but it’s been unfairly compounded,
particularly by 24/7 operation. There are already
well proven and significant improvements
available. Fundamentally this is still about
efficiently moving and storing energy. We know
a single litre of diesel can be converted into
approximately 3 kWh of energy and a review of
break specific fuel consumption data is a quick way
of digesting generator actualities. Our objective was
to develop a solution that was generator agnostic
and addresses real-world challenges.
While tower operators should always be looking
to reduce their dependence on diesel, present day
realities mean diesel generators will be with us
for a while. With a reduction in loads and other
influencing factors, alternative generation and
storage mediums will increasingly come in to play.
TowerXchange: Tower operators always want
to know that suppliers are proven in emerging
market contexts - what is your installed base in
emerging markets?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: We have many hundreds of thousands of
products installed, with the majority in emerging
markets. Our power modules have very high levels
of protection beyond those you’d typically find.
Enatel was established in 2002 by the same team
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 109
The original Swichtec management team and
founding head engineer Dennis Chapman, started
Enatel. All remain intimately involved.
Our initial hybrid systems were limited to mining
and military contexts. Recent demand has
increased and as a consequence, we are engaged in
discussions regarding more significant projects.
TowerXchange: Talk to us about how the
challenge of hybrid dimensioning to meet the
unique requirements of each site can be married
up with the economic consideration where less
customisation usually means less cost.
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: The application of hybrid power is
complicated, primarily due to the extensive
variations within a site and across multiple sites.
This has limited the wide deployment of ‘silver
bullet’ solutions.
Inherent site variability means a hybrid conversion
that works at one site, won’t necessarily work at all
110 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
TowerXchange: What specific parameters do you
need?
We see many sites
dimensioned on the safe
side to fit within particular
capabilities. Such systems
then risk being more about
compromise, than optimise
“
that founded Swichtec Power Systems, which was
pioneering high frequency switch-mode power in
telecoms during the mid-80’s. Swichtec grew rapidly
and was supplying to the major Chinese operators
in 1990s. We opened a large wholly owned facility
there in ‘96. Swichtec’s products were recognised
as being innovative, robust and there’s good reason
you still see them operating in many networks 20
years later. Swichtec became the DC business within
Eaton Corporation.
or as well on another. This can limit their successful
deployment with time and cost complications. We
see many sites dimensioned on the safe side to fit
within particular capabilities. Such systems then
risk being more about compromise, than optimise.
For us, addressing this variability was the catalyst in
developing a unique dynamic solution which allows
the expediting of multiple site deployments. The integration of renewable energy generally
relies on a site survey or a very clear brief. Often
we’re contacted by people saying we want SYNERGi.
The modularity of building blocks takes much of
the customisation pain off the table. However, there
are some basic site information prerequisites which
make dimensioning job easier.
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: Average site load is most critical parameter
and almost always assumed to be greater than
actual. We look to utilise the existing generator
if possible for cost effectiveness and significant
operational potential.
We also need:
< Generator - size (kVA &/or kW rating). Is it
generator only? 1 or 2 generators?
< Battery preferences (if any)?
< Are there site noise curfew requirements?
< Air conditioning/cooling requirements (if any)?
< Will the site require solar or wind? Is there any
likelihood of grid?
< Fuel management?
< Alarm & communication requirements? Et
cetera...
TowerXchange: What’s the RoI in your systems?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: That’s always an interesting question.
Within a CDC environment we can deliver an eight
month payback, with a better than 80% DG runtime
reduction and 70% diesel savings. However, whilst
these numbers are all possible and others make
similar declarations, the results remain highly
dependent on existing configuration. Generally you
can say between 12 and 24 months payback.
We developed a tool to anticipate benefits, which
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 110
helps to reveal tangible effects in making slight
configuration adjustments to meet desired balances
between CAPEX and OPEX. For example, it’s possible
to see impacts of particular battery types, capacities
and strings. What influence on lifetimes will
introduction of solar have in that location? What
are the fuel savings and delivery implications? It
provides insight into what all the idiosyncrasies
can equate to. Our primary objectives focussed on
delivering a solution that produces the lowest OPEX
and greatest uptime.
TowerXchange: How do you design a solution to
be scalable in the event that additional sharing
tenants or new technologies are added to a site,
without oversizing and incurring inefficiencies?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: One of the luxuries of our business is its
inherent modularity and scalability.
The drivers and designs required to support multiple
tower tenants are not totally unique. Almost two
decades ago we saw similar requirements with
LLU (local loop unbundling) deployments - where
it was necessary to provision DC systems for the
inclusions of multiple operators within enclosures
and exchanges. This modular architecture has been
part of telecoms power specifications since day one.
The best results are most often realised by simple
approaches and none are simpler. Its success is
related to having the simplicity and scalability to
meet periods of change and rapid growth while
meeting QoS expectations.
111 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Core to the architecture is a central 48v DC bus which
allows for seamless integration of new tenants. This
modularity intrinsically supports flexibility.
The DC power community continues to expand
controller capabilities, where they nowadays
are more representative of PLCs. They provide
intelligence in managing modules and peripheral site
infrastructure, such as climate control. Increasingly
they are used for metering and load management.
Functions such as our PowerSave, place rectifiers
on standby depending on load, so regardless of
variations, the system always maximises conversion
efficiencies.
TowerXchange: How can you ensure your systems
are ready for the integration of renewables?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: Enatel’s solar business introduced
solarreadyhomes.net; where homes are pre-wired
to allow for more cost effective migration to solar, at
such time home owners chose to do so. This has been
successful and widely adopted.
We applied that same model to telecoms, making
systems that are pre-wired for solar, so when you
wish to integrate solar power, it’s an extremely
simple process and the system will intelligently
blend in this renewable energy source.
In comparison, retrofitting solar is more
complicated, particularly if solar regulators are a
type which cannot be intelligently controlled for
optimal operation in combination with grid and
generator inputs.
TowerXchange: What do you see as the most
exciting developments for the future of cell site
energy?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: We naturally have huge interest in where
energy storage innovation is heading. Bi-directional
topologies also offer exciting possibilities. Various
factors will ensure incremental efficiency gains. Our
rectifier efficiency exceeds 96.5% and solar/wind
chargers approach 98% - we continue to explore
advancements and have demonstrated higher
conversion efficiencies.
The mobile network is largely about ‘the great
Outdoors’ and the inherent challenges this brings.
Packaging variations will elevate robustness and
address cooling challenges, especially in combination
with hardened batteries.
Solar and wind will play increasing roles in
everything we do.
Time is right for dialogue around ESCO models
and we have some past experiences. The electricity
price within a PPA will among many things be
dependent on contract durations, risk skewing and
site characteristics. Mitigating the risk is crucial. A
PV spot price falling 70% over four years highlights
potential exposures to volatilities.
It’s important we remain cognizant of energy trends
and technology advancements; otherwise there
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 111
is a danger that we simply solve the problems of
yesterday and not those of tomorrow.
TowerXchange: To sum up, how do you
differentiate Enatel’s solutions from your
competitors’?
Damien O’Regan, Global Sales Manager, Enatel
Energy: We don’t outsource manufacturing design, development, and build are all done in
New Zealand. This allows us to be highly agile and
collaborative. Our business model is proven. We
have exceptional product reliability and unique
functional capabilities which are testament to
Enatel’s rapid ongoing growth.
We embarked on our hybrid path many years
ago and during 2010 interviewed a number of
key industry stakeholders, including the largest
operators and towercos. This reinforced our
committed and considered development efforts.
We believe SYNERGi represents a solution that is
unlike any other. It departs from traditional hybrids
with the inclusion of a unique and advanced
generator control capability.
Loads vary due to multiple tenants and across
multiple sites. The SYNERGi solution is generator
agnostic and dynamically adapts to maintain
maximum efficiencies ensuring extended lifetimes,
maximized uptime and limits human intervention.
This capability in combination with the intelligent,
intuitive management of solar and wind harvesting
offers a highly compelling package
112 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Visit the new TowerXchange.com website
< Access to the “Internet of People” in emerging market
towers – a trust web of over 2,700 decision makers in
passive infrastructure
< Independent analysis and commentaries on the
prospects for tower transactions in selected countries
< The latest industry emerging market tower industry
news – BEFORE it’s published in the TowerXchange
Journal, accessible 24/7 from desktop, tablet or mobile
< A comprehensive archive of TowerXchange’s
interviews and analyses, searchable by topic, country,
company or grouped by category (e.g. interviews or
how to guides)
< The latest news and registration information about
TowerXchange’s Meetups.
Tower
Xchange
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 112
DIFFICULT SITUATIONS INSPIRE INGENIUS SOLUTIONS...
SYNERGi includes unique patented generator management with anti-stall and D2GO (Dynamic Diesel Generator Optimisation)
- Dynamically optimises any AC generator - Maximises site uptime & limits human intervention
- Allows rapid deployment to multiple sites - Self healing and automatically adapts to varying conditions
~ WORL
D
HIGH EFFICIENCY BUILDING BLOCKS
Robust, scalable power for flexibility and seamless integration
LEADIN
E F F I C I E N CG ~
Y
approa
c h in g
98%!
Solar/Wind Ready Systems
- Intelligently and intuitively blends renewable energy inputs
- Predictability in maximising solar harvest
- Protection features for safety and investment preservation
SECURITY
ENVIRONMENTAL
BACKUP
REPORTING
POWER
MANUFACTURED
IN NEW ZEALAND
INDUSTRY-LEADING POWER SOLUTIONS
REDUCE YOUR OPEX AND CO2 EMISSIONS
www.enatel.net | [email protected] | Ph: +64-3-366 4550
How to cut the cost of
air conditioning
Using free cooling systems can save up to 90% of energy costs at base stations
and data centres
As equipment is increasingly able
to operate at higher temperatures,
replacing mechanical cooling
with free cooling systems using
ambient air to cool telecom shelters
and data centres can significantly
reduce energy costs. To find out
more, TowerXchange spoke to Paul
Crawford, General Manager at DAQS
Europe.
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe
Keywords: Who’s Who, Air
Conditioning, Energy, Free Cooling
System, RoI, Opex Reduction, Shelters,
RMS, Data Centres, Africa, DAQS
Europe
Read this article to learn:
< An introduction to how free cooling systems work
< The impact of widening climactic limits for equipment on the setpoint in base station shelters and in
data centres
< How free cooling systems can create energy reductions up to 90%, and payback in 18 months
114 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Where does DAQS fit into the
telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe: DAQS
Europe - ‘The Free Cooling Company’ is dedicated
to the design and manufacture of innovative, highly
energy efficient cooling solutions for telecom/IT
applications. Our designs are built upon Free Air
Cooling principles, incorporating highly efficient EC
fan technology.
Whether your application is a radio base station,
switch room or data centre; on or off grid, or high
ambient temperature application, we have a solution
to meet your needs.
All our product solutions are energy efficient, flexible,
modular and moreover ‘futureproof’, interfacing with
all industry standard communication protocols as
standard.
TowerXchange: For our non-technical readers,
please introduce us to the concept of free cooling
systems and outdoor equipment, and please
explain how use of these systems is helping
emerging market MNOs and towercos reduce
crippling energy opex at cell sites?
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe: Our
free cooling systems use external ambient air to cool
telecom shelters and switch cabinets. The system
is interfaced with the existing air conditioning unit
which uses a much greater amount of energy to cool
the space. The system will always look to use the
ambient air to maintain the setpoint in the shelter and
when it can no longer do so, the unit switches over to
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 114
ETSI & ASHRAE recommendations in recent years
allow wider climatic limits for the operation of
electronic equipment. This has in turn allowed MNOs
to increase the setpoint in the shelter which means
that external ambient air can be used to cool the
shelter for longer periods of time. The use of free
cooling can give the MNO up to 90% savings on opex
costs. Maintenance costs of existing air conditioning
equipment and the life of this equipment can be
extended.
TowerXchange: How do you apply similar
principles to data centres?
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe:
50% of the total power consumed in an existing
data centre can be attributed to cooling systems.
In general, compressor cooling and inefficient fan
technologies are the primary users. As the data centre
is operational 24/7/365, year on year, the use of free
cooling to maintain the temperature is a viable option.
Similar to telecoms, the server equipment can now live
at higher temperatures which allows for a wider range
of temperature and humidity limits to be accepted.
We offer solutions that will use external ambient air
to cool the data centre when possible and switch to
air conditioning units thereafter. The use of this type
of system also adds N+1 redundancy as the heat can
continue to be removed from the data centre in the
event of an air conditioning failure. TowerXchange: What are DAQS’ credentials in
emerging markets?
115 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe: DAQS
Europe currently have live projects in Algeria, Egypt,
Morocco, South Africa & Tunisia.
TowerXchange: I know it varies massively
according to the requirements of a site, but on the
‘back of an envelope’, what is the typical capex on
a per site basis to invest in energy efficient cooling
systems, what magnitude of energy reduction can
be achieved, and what is the timeline to RoI?
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe: The
costs of the system can vary significantly depending on
the control systems required.
We offer stand alone control which will modulate the
fan speed dependent on the internal air temperature.
We also offer our FC10CS microprocessor control
system which offers a full control solution from
basic alarm functionality right up to full remote
communication with the system. The energy reduction
will vary dependent on the prevailing climatic
“
“
the air conditioning unit.
the higher the free-cooling
capacity, the longer mechanical
cooling can remain idle and more
money is saved
conditions in the area, but in general payback would
be under 18 months. Examples of energy reductions Morocco up to 80%; Cape Town up to 90%.
TowerXchange: To sum up, how would you
differentiate DAQS from your competitors?
Paul Crawford, General Manager, DAQS Europe:
In general, in order to maximise the return on
investment for this type of project, the two key
variables to consider when comparing different
solutions are capital cost and cooling capacity. The
positive impact of a lower capex is obvious, but cooling
performance is the most important limiting factor
that controls the achievable savings on any freecooling project. Simply put; the higher the free-cooling
capacity, the longer mechanical cooling can remain
idle and more money is saved. Our solutions deliver a
greater cooling capacity than those of our competitors
whilst minimising energy usage
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 115
Special feature:
Energy storage
tradeoffs
How many days of autonomy does a deep cycle
battery provide when exposed to the rigors
of energy storage at remote cell sites located
off-grid or on unreliable grids, and in harsh
climactic conditions? What is the tradeoff
between initial capex and long life? How do the
different energy storage technologies compare
in terms of TCO, energy density and reliability
- which battery is best for which situation? And
which innovative advanced energy storage
solutions are proven on the front lines of
emerging market cell sites?
TowerXchange starts a new special feature
to compare lead-acid, lithium, sodium and
vanadium redox batteries, seeking answers
to these questions in discussion with battery
innovators from GILDEMEISTER, GE Energy
Storage and SAFT.
In part one of ‘Energy storage tradeoffs’:
117 Could vanadium redox be a game changer?
124 GE’s unique energy storage innovation
130 Li-ion technology telecom backup power
Image courtesy of GILDEMEISTER
116 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Could vanadium redox
energy storage solutions be a
game changer?
Flow batteries ideally suited to meet the needs of larger sites off-grid and on
unreliable grid
Tom Tipple, GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions
When used as a diesel hybrid application Vanadium Redox
Energy Storage Systems can provide tremendous energy savings,
particularly at larger off-grid and poor, unreliable grid sites. The
diesel hybrid concept of storing spare load from a diesel generator
is nothing new, however the charging and discharging properties
of different battery technologies allow some battery technologies
to deliver much greater efficiencies and therefore cost savings
than others. In this interview, Tom Tipple of GILDEMEISTER
Energy Solutions introduces the CellCube Vanadium Redox Energy
Storage System and shares his perspective on how to maximise
the efficiency of the diesel hybrid model.
Keywords: Who’s Who, Energy, Batteries, Vanadium Redox, Capex, Opex Reduction, Loading, Off-grid,
Unreliable Grid, ESCOs, Hybrid Power, Solar, Retrofitting, DG Runtime, Dimensioning, Microgeneration,
Cellstrom, GILDEMEISTER
Read this article to learn:
TowerXchange: Please introduce yourself and
GILDEMEISTER to our readers.
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: I recently
Joined GILDEMEISTER energy solutions as Head
of Emerging Markets. The GILDEMEISTER Group
is a leading German manufacturer of precision
milling and machine tools, as well as software and
energy solutions, all produced to exacting German
engineering standards.
GILDEMEISTER made a strategic decision to
diversify into renewable energy with the acquisition
of a+f GmbH, manufacturers of sophisticated PV
Tracking systems for industrial use, and Cellstrom,
one the pioneers of developing commercial
Vanadium Redox Flow Energy Storage Systems.
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions offers a full range
of alternate energy solutions - PV, wind turbines
and energy storage. Its PV tracking capability is
a particular specialty. Any off grid site could be
100% green energy, however space is usually the
limiting factor. We can also model sites to determine
optimum alternative energy requirements, but
this is such a large subject it is perhaps better to
concentrate today on energy storage solutions.
< How to use energy storage solutions as a buffer to mop up excess energy from gensets
< USPs of Vanadium Redox flow battery technology: unlimited deep cycle, fast charge capability, charge
and discharge to any state of charge, 20-year battery life expectancy and low maintenance requirements
< Why GILDEMEISTER’s CellCube is ideally suited to higher-powered off grid sites, poor grid sites and
small data centers
< The TCO and potential DG runtime savings from Vanadium Redox Storage Systems
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
One of the challenges has been that license
requirements require operators to provide coverage
in areas where the commercial returns on network
infrastructure were at best marginal - low ARPU
was compounded by the difficulty of installing,
securing and fuelling sites in remote locations.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 117
With local currency depreciating against the dollar
and fuel prices steadily rising, the payback time on
remote installations increased, yet these network
extensions remain a licensing commitment.
So there is an increasingly urgent requirement
for telecom operators to reduce energy costs at
remote sites, and diesel hybrid solutions provide a
convenient first step in reducing operating costs by
capturing and utilising the spare generator power
available in most off grid sites. The problem has
always been the cost of replacing batteries which
are simply not designed to be deep cycled on a
regular basis. Vanadium Redox energy storage
solutions are specifically designed to offer unlimited
cycle capability to any state of charge. It has the
potential to be something of a disruptive technology
and a potential game-changer.
TowerXchange: At which sites are vanadium
redox batteries such a good potential energy
storage solution?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: Vanadium redox
energy storage systems work well in a number of
applications, specifically diesel hybrid solutions
for off grid sites that require unlimited deep cycle
capability and poor grid sites suffering daily
outages, where the system essentially works as a
UPS providing back up power for long periods until
grid power is restored.
Telecoms and tower operators are looking for
efficient solutions to reduce energy OPEX - i.e.
118 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
reduce diesel consumption. The optimum way of
doing it is to install large PV arrays, wind turbines
and energy storage, but this requires a large capital
outlay, and a lot of space - neither of which are
readily available.
For off grid sites, most diesel generators are sized
three to four times above the average site load
as they have been engineered to accommodate
unusual load spikes and network expansion.
However, this over-engineering is detrimental to
a generator’s asset life and results in poor fuel
efficiency. Running a generator at a sub optimal
load leads to cylinder coking, which reduces the
asset lifespan of a generator from around four years
to around two and a half years. This is compounded
not just by the cost of the extra fuel being burned,
but also by the high cost of remote fuel deliveries.
To run generators at their maximum, most efficient
load you would usually add a dummy load which
removes the low load coking issue, but wastes
around 60% of the available power from the
generator. By harnessing this spare power in an
energy storage device, you can reuse the wasted
energy by simply cycling power to the site between
the generator and the energy storage device.
There are different energy storage options: leadacid, lithium, sodium sulfate and vanadium redox
batteries. The key performance criteria of the
different battery technologies are defined by; the
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: Talk us through a comparison of
those different energy storage options.
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: First you need
to consider which technology offers the best opex
saving, then work out the total cost of ownership
(TCO) which would include the capital cost, annual
operation and maintenance cost, replacement cost,
generator asset life extension and miscellaneous
cost saving such as temperature control.
Realistically, TCO or return on investment should
be taken over a minimum of 5 years, as this would
tie in with ESCO service contracts. So which
energy storage technology can deliver the best
performance?
Lead-acid batteries are relatively cheap, proven,
and readily available. The problem is that
their chemistry is simply not designed for deep
cycling, so even though a manufacturer may
claim a lifespan of 10-15 years, the reality is that
replacement is typically required every 2 years.
You cannot use the full capacity of the battery to
cycle without damaging the battery, usually only
to the top 50% of its charge level, so you need
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
to dimension the battery capacity at least two
times your actual capacity requirement. You also
need to the charge the battery according to the
manufacturer’s guidelines, to its full capacity which
is a slow process, and does NOT use the full power
available from the generator. This is the biggest
performance handicap for lead-acid batteries - you
have to charge to full capacity or you damage them,
and as a result, you are not running the generator
at its maximum load.
The key to energy storage efficiency is to use as
much of that excess power in the generator as
possible, and to charge your energy storage system
as fast as possible. As soon as charging begins to
slow down (as you approach the top of charge),
you want to be able to switch over from generator
power to battery power. So whenever the generator
is on, it should be working at its maximum and
most efficient load. Vanadium Redox batteries allow
you to do that; you can be very flexible with both
charge and discharge criteria. As mentioned earlier,
other energy storage solutions need a full 100%
charge otherwise you’ll get performance issues and
damage the battery - you don’t have to do that with
vanadium redox. You can charge or discharge to
any state of charge with absolutely no degradation
to performance. So you can run your generator
at full load to charge the vanadium redox battery
and power the site, then as soon as the charging
starts to slow down (usually at around 85% state of
charge), you turn off the generator. This means the
generator is working at full load when it is on. It is
working at its most efficient optimised state. “
Vanadium redox batteries are
good for over 20,000 cycles
without damage or degradation
- they’re designed for a 20-year
life expectancy
“
round trip efficiency of the system, the charge /
discharge ratio of the battery (i.e. charge the battery
as fast as possible by using ALL the available power
from the generator), the usable capacity of the
battery, the ability to charge to different states of
charge and the number of deep cycles (i.e. expected
lifespan).
Vanadium redox batteries are good for over 20,000
cycles without damage or degradation - they’re
designed for a 20-year life expectancy.
TowerXchange: Go easy on the chemistry Tom,
but how does it work?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: It’s a classic flow
battery principle. The vanadium redox battery is
a type of rechargeable flow battery that employs
vanadium ions in different oxidation states to store
chemical potential energy. The vanadium redox
battery exploits the ability of vanadium to exist
in solution in four different oxidation states, and
uses this property to make a battery that has just
one electro-active element instead of two, so if the
electrolytes are accidentally mixed the battery
suffers no permanent damage.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 119
A vanadium redox battery consists of an assembly
of power cells in which the two electrolytes are
separated by a proton exchange membrane. Both
electrolytes are vanadium based, the electrolyte in
the positive half-cells contains VO2+ and VO2+ ions,
the electrolyte in the negative half-cells, V3+ and
V2+ ions.
When the vanadium battery is charged, the VO2+
ions in the positive half-cell are converted to VO2+
ions when electrons are removed from the positive
terminal of the battery. Similarly in the negative
half-cell, electrons are introduced converting the
V3+ ions into V2+. During discharge this process
is reversed and results in a typical open-circuit
voltage of 1.41 V.
Vanadium redox technology has been around for a
long time but it’s only been commercially available
for the last ten years. It may have taken a while
to get it right, but there are proven installations
worldwide now - we know it works, and it makes
economic sense on certain sites.
TowerXchange: What is your installed base in
emerging markets?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: There have been
over 150 installations of Vanadium Redox Battery
systems between 10kW and 30kW, many in hostile
environments (from deserts in Oman, to Saudi
Arabia and India). The company is fairly new to
the telecoms market, so we are actively appointing
partners in key markets.
120 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What’s the ‘sweet spot’ for
CellCube deployments?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: The CellCube 48
Series comes in 10kW, 20kW and 30kW options.
Most telecom sites need less than 5kW. So our
current product is particularly suited to highpowered sites, multi tenant sites and small data
centers. A 10kW system can be easily upgraded to a
20 kW or 30kW option by simply plugging in more
power stacks, so this is a very interesting model for
the towercos as they add more tenants and their site
power budget increases.
In terms of capacity, our smallest system is 40 kWh,
then 70kWh, 100kWh and 130kWh. As it’s simply a
case of adding more electrolytes into tanks, you can
start with a capacity of 40 kWh and expand easily
up to 130kWh with exactly the same site footprint.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: Tell us about the potential
use of vanadium redox batteries at sites with
unreliable grid connections.
Run time
Cellcube works in fastest charge zone, 0-80% SoC
< Generator 30KVA< Load 10kW< Cellcube 20kW/130kWh
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: Take Nigeria
as an example where the grid is particularly
unpredictable and outages are a daily occurrence.
A Vanadium Redox energy storage system is an
obvious solution for sites that need long autonomy
during a power outage. A 130kWh system will
provide 24 hours back up power for a 5kW site
and can be fully charged in under 6 hours. So a
CellCube system can be used as the first backup when the grid goes off, the battery takes over, so
it’s acting as a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply).
With any other type of battery, you must charge the
battery back to its full capacity to get the maximum
lifespan, so if the grid goes off again when charging
the battery and its only 80% charged, you will
permanently damage the battery. Only vanadium
redox batteries’ performance is unaffected by
partial charge and discharge. I would personally
keep the generator as a second back-up in case the
grid is off an extended time, but in some cases, the
generator can be removed completely.
TowerXchange: Is there any prospect of
developing a smaller vanadium redox battery
for the average BTS sites?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: Our design
engineers are looking to develop a smaller 5kW
power solution, but this is a little bit of a red
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
20
State of Charge %
site load, and design a system capable of capturing
as much of that spare capacity as possible in the
most efficient manner. For instance, if I have a
25KVA generator providing power to a 5kW site, I
theoretically have 20kW of spare, available power,
so I should size my storage system to capture as
much of that spare power as possible (i.e. run the
generator at full load); in this case a 20kW storage
system would provide the best cost saving and TCO
return. For off grid sites, the storage power rating
is more important than its energy capacity, it just
means you have more cycles per day for smaller
capacities. Each site is different, you decide which
power / capacity system best suits that particular
site.
40
Generator Power %
Generator only runs at 100% load, always at maximum
efficiency 4 hour generator run time, 10 hour Redox
Battery.
Run time reduction = 71%
herring as you need to match the energy storage
solution to the spare power available to get the best
commercial return.
TowerXchange: How should tower operators
determine the right energy storage solution to
meet their needs?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: I got it wrong for
years trying to dimension battery size and capacity
to site load. It is more important to look at the spare
power available from the generator rather than the
Where autonomy is important, such as on a poor
grid site, you want the largest capacity possible to
provide UPS back up. You don’t know how long the
grid outage will be.
TowerXchange: What kind of DG runtime savings
can vanadium redox batteries deliver?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: We have
recently evaluated energy solutions for a number
of different site scenarios ranging from 1-20kW
load and different generator combinations. In
some instances we can deliver up to 85% generator
runtime saving. Of course this depends on the
power difference between the generator and the
site load.
In practice, the lowest generator run time saving
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 121
TowerXchange: High quality German engineering
and bleeding edge energy storage innovations
don’t often come cheap, so tell us about the Total
Cost of Ownership of your solutions.
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: For our largest
“
Diesel Hybrid Opex and TCO Savings
80
60
USD saving
we’ve had is 50% and the best is 88%. RoI is
dependent on the amount of spare generator
capacity - over-engineered sites with big
generators and relatively low load yield a very
quick break even. The beauty of Vanadium redox
storage solutions is that they transform the OPEX
inefficiencies of over-engineered sites into real
energy savings.
40
71%
20
48%
32%
Opex OPzV
The beauty of Vanadium
redox storage solutions is
that they transform the
OPEX inefficiencies of overengineered sites into real
energy savings
“
122 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Opex VRB
TCO OPzV
39%
TCO VRB
Figures for a 10kW site with 30KVA generator, assuming 50% DoD for lead acid battery, 2000Ah, and a 20kW / 40kWh CellCube
48 series system which would be 30kW / 130kWh,
you would be looking at a capital outlay of around
€170k. This would be suitable for a multi tenant
site with an average site load of around 25kW. The
generator would probably be around 75KVA. For
comparison, an equivalent lead acid battery would
need to be at least 5400 Ah capacity rated at C5 and
be able to supply 30kW of continuous power for 4
hours.
The TCO for the CellCube overtakes lead acid
batteries after three years. For smaller systems
(10kW) the payback is closer to five years. And
that’s compared to lead-acid batteries - the payback
cycle versus diesel is faster.
TowerXchange: Who are your main target clients
for such systems?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: Towercos are
empowered to take a longer-term view of opex
savings, but we’ve seen forward thinking operators
such as MTN and Vodafone embracing efficient
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Another potential target would be the ESCOs, but
making the ESCO business model work is tough
on a site by site basis. Every site has different
characteristics - pricing per kWh across 100
different sites means you’re going to win some and
lose some. On a smaller scale site by site basis the
energy service model might work, but no tower
operator is going to accept the complexity of pricing
for individual sites - you have to offer a generic
tariff for a basket of sites, which means you have to
agree a price that works for both the ESCO and the
operator. Eltek are pioneering much of the ESCO
debate, but the operators and towercos have to take
longer term view on investment in more efficient
technology.
“
system. As for security, everything is in a locked
steel container, and the ground wiring comes
up from underneath the container, so nothing is
exposed.
You’re looking for an energy
storage system that charges
as fast as possible using all
available power from the
generator; that’s the key to
reducing generator run time
and making the site as energy
efficient as possible
“
energy saving technology.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the maintenance
and security implications of using vanadium
redox batteries.
24/7. And you can switch them off. Sodium Sulfate
batteries must be kept at on all the time to maintain
their high operating temperatures, otherwise their
molten salts solidify which can be an expensive
mistake. There are no safety issues with Vanadium
redox, the charging and discharging criteria are
very robust, there is no chance of thermal runaway
or explosion in the event of overcharging or short
circuit as you have with certain Lithium batteries.
It is recommended to replace the cell membranes
every 10 years, which is a low cost service and in
the unlikely event that a membrane fails, there are
10 cubes in each system providing redundancy so
the battery will keep working.
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: There’s nothing
to do! You don’t have to backwash vanadium redox
batteries, or clean filters, they keep on running
Maintenance requirements are limited to an
inspection - literally, opening the cabinet to check
it’s still there. In-built remote monitoring sensors
pick up and report performance status of the
Alternatively you could install a self-contained
microgrid, using a PV array and energy storage
solution. If you can feed 15-20 cell sites, you have a
very attractive business model, but you still have to
transmit the power from the microgrid to the sites,
so microgrids only work when everything is in close
proximity, which is harder in Africa because of the
distances involved.
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Thanks Tom. To sum up, how
would you differentiate GILDEMEISTER’s
CellCube vanadium redox flow technology
batteries from other CDC batteries?
Tom Tipple, Head of Emerging Markets,
GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions: Fast and flexible
charging performance is key when it comes to
optimising energy efficiency in diesel hybrid
solutions. You’re looking for an energy storage
system that charges as fast as possible using all
available power from the generator; that’s the key
to reducing generator run time and making the site
as energy efficient as possible. TCO models differ,
but it all comes down to DG runtime saving and the
round trip efficiency of the storage system.
CellCube has the most flexible charge
characteristics on any storage system specifically
developed for the telecoms industry, and is ideally
suited to larger power off grid sites, or poor grid
sites.
The life expectancy of a CellCube system is 20 years.
It has unlimited cycle capability to any state of
charge. No other storage technology can do that.
Visit GILDEMEISTER at booth 11 at the
TowerXchange Meetup:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 123
GE’s unique energy
storage innovation
Durathon’s long life, abuse tolerance and deep cycling an ideal fit for
emerging market telecoms
One of the most talked about advanced energy
equipment innovations in the past year has
been the Durathon battery from GE Energy
Storage. TowerXchange wanted to understand
the unique capabilities of this potential gamechanging innovation, how the battery was
performing in the field, and how widespread
deployment may be within the next year.
Ganesh Subramanian and Peter Kalish, GE Energy Storage Solutions
Keywords: Who’s Who, Energy, Opex
Reduction, Batteries, Air Conditioning, RoI,
ESCOs, Solar, DG runtime, Warehousing,
Rectifiers, Africa, Durathon, GE, GE Critical
Power, GE Energy Storage
Read this article to learn:
< Characteristics of Durathon: long life, abuse tolerance, battery management system, deep cycling and
energy density
< How Durathon performs in the field: 50% fuel savings
< Why adding energy storage capacity for additional tenants doesn’t have to mean the replacement of the
battery bank
< From pilots to launch orders: Durathon batteries are being shipped all over the world and GE forecasts
Durathon will be deployed to 1,500-2,000 African cell sites by the end of 2014
< GE’s appetite to join forces with local banks and managed service providers to fund zero-capex
business models
124 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: How does the technology and
capabilities of the Durathon sodium nickel
chloride battery differ from the lead acid
and lithium based energy storage solutions
currently in use on most African cell sites?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: Durathon Battery technology is
based on an advanced industrial battery design
engineered to meet the growing need for safe,
reliable and high performance energy storage for
both stationary and motive applications.
The electrochemical reaction within the
Durathon battery is quite unique. Each cell is a
sealed metal can, with no secondary chemical
reactions. Sodium ions travel back and forth
across a solid beta alumina electrolyte, which
creates stable performance over long life.
There is no self-discharge with Durathon
batteries. Because all internal materials are solid
at room temperature, they can stay in that state
for years with no impact on performance. This
characteristic is particularly useful when you
consider the inventory management challenges
for emerging market cell site equipment.
The Durathon battery has applications
across industries, including transportation,
telecommunications and back-up power.
GE initially began to explore alternative
battery technologies that could power large
equipment such as locomotives, which meant
it required deep cycles, and had to survive
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
temperature extremes as locomotives moved
from the warmest to the coldest regions on
Earth. It was also designed to be very safe as
in a transportation context you couldn’t afford
catastrophic failures like fires. Thanks to
improvements we have made to the cell design,
we’ve created a safer battery.
We noticed that the requirements necessary for
its application in transportation - long life, abuse
tolerance, deep cycling - were similar to those
necessary for telecoms and industries needing
stationary power. Currently, there is quite a bit of
demand in places close to the equator. To deploy
energy storage solutions close to the equator,
the solution has to be able to withstand high
temperatures and be robust enough to perform in
tough conditions.
Another characteristic of Durathon which makes
it suitable for deployment in Africa is that it’s
built in a single 48v block weighing 120kg. We
intentionally didn’t add integrated handling
features as a lot of tower operators in Africa have
a problem with pilferage. The weight of Durathon
doesn’t eliminate theft, but it’s a strong deterrent!
TowerXchange: Tell us about the battery
management system built into Durathon.
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: Because the Durathon battery
runs warm, we built in a battery management
system (BMS) to manage each module’s
temperature, ensuring safe and consistent
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
operation.
But our electronics package does more than just
monitor and manage the module’s temperature.
As tower operators become more sophisticated
about site operations, they need a richer set of
information passed to their network monitoring
center. Durathon’s BMS can communicate most
of its operating data, in real time, to the NOC or
even via SMS to technicians.
TowerXchange: How does Durathon’s initial
capex, battery lifetimes and Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) compare to alternate energy
storage solutions?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: Being an advanced battery,
Durathon is more expensive than the prevalent
lead acid batteries. However, lifecycle is key to
TCO, and Durathon has a significantly longer life www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 125
As a result, payback can be achieved in less than
24 months in Africa, with a longer post-payback
lifecycle in which to benefit from efficiencies
than with many other energy storage solutions.
TowerXchange: How does the energy density
of Durathon compare with alternate energy
storage solutions?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: Energy density is one of the
reasons GE went for this particular technology.
We pack a lot of energy into a small package - for
example, we can get 150-200Wh per litre from the
battery, making Durathon an attractive option on
rooftop sites where space is often limited.
We may replace a 1000Ah lead acid battery with
our 276Ah module, which is the size of a carryon suitcase. Which means those large battery
banks on rooftops can be removed. For longer
autonomy, the site owner may need two units,
connected in parallel, to get 10-12 hours of
backup time.
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: Comparing our
sodium solution with a lead-acid battery bank,
Durathon would typically be one quarter of the
weight, and half the volume.
126 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
more hours of discharge per battery.
older and new batteries will
work fine in parallel, which
means you don’t have to change
whole battery bank if you’re
upgrading the energy storage
capacity of a site
“
up to 15 years in float, and up to 8 years in heavy
cycling applications. Durathon also charges in
less than half the time of conventional lead-acid
batteries.
TowerXchange: How does Durathon compare
in performance in terms of charge/discharge
cycles? And what kind of autonomy can be
achieved?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: We’ve done a lot of work
worldwide on this, achieving 50% fuel savings
compared to generator-only operation.
Durathon can typically achieve an 80% state of
charge in five hours. When we’re deep cycling,
Durathon can repeatedly discharge almost fully
without damage.
For our 276Ah standard module we get around
15kWh over a very flat discharge curve. Of
course runtime depends on load - for a fairly
typical telecom load of 1.5kW, we’ll have usable
capacity of 13.8-14kWh, which equates to nine or
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: That’s based on a
single 276Ah module. Of course you can place
more batteries in parallel to achieve greater
autonomy.
The way Durathon charges and discharges is
unique, such that older and new batteries will
work fine in parallel, which means you don’t
have to change whole battery bank if you’re
upgrading the energy storage capacity of a site.
This is key for towercos as they move from one to
two to three tenants - adding extra energy storage
capacity usually requires replacing the whole
battery bank.
TowerXchange: Is there a sweet spot in terms
of the energy load on a site most suitable for
Durathon?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: Our best performance is
800w-2.4kw per battery.
This is a hot battery - it runs at 300°C, although
the outside temperature is only about 10°C above
ambient. During discharge, the electrochemical
reaction is slightly exothermic, so at higher loads
the battery temperature will rise. While not a
safety issue, excessive temperature can reduce
the life of the battery, so the battery management
system monitors and protects the battery against
overheating.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: How is Durathon cooled to
adapt to some of the harsh environments in
Africa?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom,
GE Energy Storage: Other batteries need a
temperature controlled room, whereas all
Durathon needs is a waterproof container. There
is no need for air conditioning - the electronics
can handle temperatures up to 65°C, and the
internal cells have no trouble with temperature
extremes. So you can eliminate air conditioning
for batteries, and just use a DC fan or convective
cooling to keep other electronics inside the
cabinet within temperature limits.
TowerXchange: Can you give us an idea of the
number of cell sites currently using Durathon
batteries?
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: We’re progressing
from pilots to launch orders in several key
markets such as Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana,
Egypt and South Africa. As you know, telecoms
operators typically run small scale pilots initially
- we’re progressing over the next six to eight
months to larger orders in 100s and 200s of
units. By the end of 2014 we should see Durathon
deployed at 1,500-2,000 sites in Africa.
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: We have deployed 20MWh across
all applications since GE Energy Storage started
up in the middle of last year. We’ve had very
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Cells in a battery
good performance in the field, proof that the
solution meets market needs.
TowerXchange: How do you see the balance
of business opportunities between green
field new site rollouts versus upgrades to the
energy storage systems at existing sites?
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: With many markets
approaching saturation, there are a finite number
of green field site deployments, even in Africa.
Some key countries still have significant numbers
of new towers being deployed, such as Nigeria
and Kenya.
Sometimes the customer has the budget to invest
up-front in an advanced sodium or lithium based
energy storage solutions with a high warranty. At
other times the rollout might only have budget
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 127
develop ESCO offerings, but their capital is bound
up in their existing business and they struggle
to secure the funding to acquire advanced
renewable and energy storage technologies
which require higher up front capex but which
deliver better TCO over longer periods. GE would
be interested to use our financial horsepower
to work with local banks and managed service
providers to develop the ESCO proposition.
TowerXchange: What is the potential for GE
Energy Storage to join forces with the GE
Critical Power business?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: GE acquired Lineage Power
several years ago. They’re now GE Critical Power,
one of the leading suppliers of electronics and
conversion equipment for telecom. We’re finding
that as GE Energy Storage matures as a business
there are increasing opportunities to marry GE
technologies into a single solution.
GE’s Durathon factory
for low cost lead-acid solutions.
However, there are 150,000 cell sites in Africa,
many running primarily on diesel generators.
So we see 90-95% of our market in Africa being
retrofits.
TowerXchange: What role could GE play in a
zero capex, ESCO business model?
128 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: GE has a financial
arm that is working on financing distributed
renewable energy in Africa.
Our ideal business model would be to support
local lenders and local managed service
providers who have “boots on the ground” in
Africa. Typically these local managed service
providers have the experience and expertise to
By combining energy storage with power
conversion and power components we can
develop compact energy storage solutions that
initially are finding a market in North America,
but which will meet a global need eventually.
This would enable us to support not just BTS, but
BSCs and Switching Centres as well.
Ganesh Subramanian, Global Sales Leader,
Telecom, GE Energy Storage: Working with GE
Critical Power particularly enhances our offering
to towercos. We can then offer everything the
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: What are the implications
of the release of Durathon for hybrid and
renewable energy solution developers? Have
you established any relationships with hybrid
energy solution developers?
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: We’ve been dipping our toe in the
hybrid market, working with solar-diesel hybrids
in a few cases. Some of our pilots have yielded
energy savings significantly better than 50%.
Durathon works better with solar-diesel
compared to solar-only hybrid sites as ours is
a warm battery and needs to stay warm. In
situations that require long periods of autonomy,
Durathon consumes its own power, reducing the
amount of autonomy available. We’ve found that
Durathon works best at sites that need 20 hours
or less autonomy. If you’re looking for two days
of autonomy or are deploying solar arrays in
areas affected by frequent cloud cover, Durathon
may not provide enough autonomy alone, you
may need a diesel generator to ensure long term
availability.
TowerXchange: Finally, please tell us how GE’s
re-entry into the energy storage market came
about.
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Peter Kalish, Product Manager Telecom, GE
Energy Storage: GE has been in and out of
the energy storage business for almost a
century, starting with our involvement in early
automotive batteries. GE offered consumer
batteries through the 1960’s, but exited that
business. It was around the millennium when we identified
a growing need for industrial batteries. As
market leaders in locomotive production, we
were constantly seeking for ways to differentiate
ourselves and stay ahead of the competition. We
were seeking to “hybridise” locomotives, doing
the equivalent of what Prius did for cars. If,
by hybridising a locomotive, you can save 10%
of fuel consumed you have a game-changing
technology. The transportation market was very
hot until the world economic markets crashed,
leading to a slowdown in locomotive sales, but by
that time we’d done a lot of the R&D to get into
energy storage.
We also purchased Beta R&D located near
Derby, UK - fourteen guys who had developed
technology for commercial energy storage
since the late 1960’s - we saw them as having
the expertise to commercialise the technology.
From late 2007 to 2009 we did a lot of work to
understand the potential of the technology, layout
the business plan, and determine the markets we
wanted to be in.
Stationary energy storage solutions in telecom
backup power and industrial applications both
“
This is what GE does
throughout its businesses:
marrying best-in-class
technology with deep market
insights to bring innovation to
market, on a large scale
“
towerco would need from a passive system
perspective, including Eco-Priority rectifiers that
manage energy from grid and solar and wind
sources. With advanced batteries too, we have the
makings of a market-changing offering.
needed the same ruggedness, abuse tolerance,
deep cycling and long life as was needed in
transportation. So we found there was demand
for advanced energy storage solutions in those
markets, which stimulated the company to invest
in energy storage.
GE decided to bet big on batteries - investing
US$150 million to incubate and commercialise
the new technology, effectively creating a startup
within the company. The resulting business,
GE Energy Storage, is focused on delivering
Durathon products, which offer a safe, reliable
and cost effective option for a broad range
of industries and uses. This is what GE does
throughout its businesses: marrying best-in-class
technology with deep market insights to bring
innovation to market, on a large scale
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 129
Li-ion technology takes
telecom backup power to the
next level
New generation Li-ion batteries minimise installation size and weight while
optimising backup performance and TCO
Effective, reliable backup power is essential for the
telecommunications industry to maintain continuity of
service as networks need to evolve to meet the demands of
the ‘always on’ world that now includes cloud computing
and high bandwidth data streaming, et cetera. Saft has used
its extensive experience in the global telecoms industry to
develop a broad portfolio of advanced, specialised battery
solutions suitable for wireless or wireline installations,
indoor or outdoor, on-grid or standalone, in very hot or cold
climates, urban settings or remote hard-to-access locations.
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business
Development Manager, Saft
Keywords: Who’s Who, Energy, Batteries, QoS, On-grid, Off-grid,
Unreliable grid, Hybrid power, DG runtime, RMS, Africa, Saft
Read this article to learn:
< The critical issues you need to consider in order to select the right battery to meet the specific
requirements of a cell site
< TCO of Li-ion versus LA batteries
< The advantages of Li-ion batteries in terms of energy density, and the implications for the installation
footprint at a cell site
< Meeting differing backup power requirements at on-grid, unreliable grid and off-grid BTS and at larger
CO, DPCO and MSC sites
130 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce Saft - where do
you fit in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?
When network stability is low, customers need a
solution with good cycling capabilities and good
chargeability. When network stability is high, they
need solutions with float charging capability and
a long service life. Saft offers backup solutions for
periods from 30 seconds to over one day.
TowerXchange: What is your installed base and
experience in emerging markets, particularly
Africa?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: Saft has extensive experiences and
references in various African countries such as
Algeria, Nigeria, Cóte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Gabon.
In Nigeria, Saft’s specialised Sunica.plus nickelbased batteries provide the energy storage at the
heart of Eltek Valere’s innovative hybrid telecom
power systems, combining batteries with diesel
generators, that have been rolled out to 80 mobile
telecom sites across the country. These co-location
sites are provided for Nigeria’s wireless operators
on a fully managed leased basis, and QoS (Quality
of Service) is absolutely vital in this competitive
market.
TowerXchange: Batteries have an unfair
reputation as a commoditised piece of
equipment, the selection of which rarely attracts
the attention of C-level decision makers - why
should CTOs, CFOs and CEOs take an interest in
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
which batteries are used at their cell sites?
<
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: Mobile network operators place a
major emphasis on ensuring consistent quality of
subscriber service. The design and management
of backup power systems to maintain continuity of
power, in the event of an interruption to the main
site power supply, is therefore a vital issue. When
the main power supply fails, the backup battery
must be able to perform. My view is therefore that
battery selection is a critical element in the success
of the entire installation.
So while it can be tempting to regard the battery
as a simple commodity item, to be purchased at
the lowest initial cost, I urge the C-suite to look
at the bigger picture. A cheap battery can in fact
prove very expensive if it fails to function when
required, causing loss of subscriber revenues. In
contrast, an initially more expensive specialised
telecoms battery that delivers in terms of reliability,
performance and life will provide a superior return
on investment (RoI) as well as peace of mind.
TowerXchange: What are the critical
considerations in selecting battery backup power
solutions?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: There are a number of critical
considerations that determine the correct choice of
battery for a telecoms installation:
< The duration of backup time required, i.e. the
capacity needed to support the duty profile,
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
<
<
<
which largely determines the battery sizing.
The specific application, will the battery be
subjected to frequent daily cycling with deep
discharges or will it mainly be on floating duty?
The environmental temperature, as extremely
cold conditions can adversely affect
performance, while elevated temperatures
reduce the expected life. In some cases, batteries
might need to be housed in a specially heated or
cooled enclosure.
The energy density (in terms of both volume
and weight), can the battery provide the required
performance from the limited installation
footprint available at telecom sites?
Maintenance requirements - how often will the
battery need servicing or replacement? At
remote locations, the cost of frequent service
visits can exceed the battery purchase cost.
TowerXchange: How does the TCO of Saft’s
solutions compare to alternatives?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: Currently, the majority of telecom
backup power systems are supported by lead-acid
(LA) batteries. While these batteries have operated
successfully in the field for many decades, they have
some drawbacks, including concerns regarding
reduced life expectancy at higher temperatures,
shorter cycling life, the necessity to over-size the
capacity, low reliability, high weight and low energy
density.
In recent years, lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery
technology has demonstrated its exceptional
capability to deliver high performance, reliability
and long life in a range of demanding backup
applications. Saft has now created a second
generation of Li-ion batteries, known as Evolion®
that capitalises on this experience by offering tailor
made outside plant hardened modules to meet the
specific demands of the telecom industry, where
they offer possibilities to create compact, safe and
reliable backup power systems.
Thanks to its zero maintenance, sealed for life
design, and long calendar and cycle life, Evolion®
offers an optimised TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).
So while a lead-acid battery might last only up to
five years, Evolion® is designed to have the same
life expectancy as the telecom equipment it serves.
This means a long float life of 20 years at +20°C
and more than 10 years at +40°C and a high cycle
life of 4,300 cycles at 80% DOD (depth of discharge)
and 8,200 cycles at 50% DOD. Furthermore, unlike
lead-acid batteries that are prone to ‘sudden-death’
failures, the life and performance of a Li-ion battery
is always predictable.
TowerXchange: What are the operational
advantages of Saft Li-ion batteries?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: The operational advantages of the
Evolion® modules include:
< High energy density (in terms of both volume
and weight), delivering high performance
from the limited installation footprint available
at telecom sites
< High performance in cycling and floating
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 131
applications
< Safe, reliable operation at extreme temperatures
(-40°C to +75°C) that eliminates the need for
on site heating or air conditioning
< Easy battery management, since the state of
charge (SOC) of a Li-ion battery is directly
related to its cell voltage. This also offers the
potential for intelligent remote supervision
The main advantage of Li-ion technology for
telecom networks is that it enables more energy
per weight and volume to be stored. For example,
a typical VRLA (valve regulated lead-acid) telecom
battery will store 80-95 Wh/l and 35 Wh/kg. In
comparison, the Evolion® module stores over 170
Wh/l and 139 Wh/kg, making it effectively two times
smaller and four times lighter.
TowerXchange: What are the typical applications
in which your batteries are used?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: Currently, Evolion® has four main
applications:
Outdoor in wire-line/wireless applications
with a high quality grid - including outdoor
cabinet applications such as BTS (Base Transceiver
Stations), BSC (Base Station Controllers), MSC
(Mobile Switching Centres) and access node
terminals for FTTx.
At these sites, the battery has to support around
10 to 30 power outages per year ranging from a
few seconds to hundreds of minutes. Since it is in
132 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
an uncontrolled environment, the battery has to
survive temperature ranges from -20°C to +55°C
and large variations in relative humidity - Evolion®
can work across this temperature range without
affecting performance and life.
remote monitoring.
These sites can be remote and hard to access. In
this case, reducing expenses associated with
transportation, installation and maintenance is
a key objective when considering new solutions.
Evolion® is ‘maintenance free’, with state of health
and state of charge information available through
CO, MSC and DPCO applications - covering all
types of indoor sites with high power requirements
(from above 10 kW to several hundreds of kW)
that are connected to electrical grids with good or
poor quality, and including Central Offices (CO),
the more recent architecture of Distributed Power
On average, the power required in such
applications is in a range of 800 W up to a few kW
and the runtimes range from 2 to 8 hours.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
required is between 1 to 4 kW and runtimes range
from 4 to 12 hours.
And again the site is often remote and hard to
access. In this case, reducing expenses associated
with transportation, installation and maintenance is
necessary. The Evolion® module offers high cycling
capability at different depths of discharge and in
particular at high temperature.
Central Offices (DPCO), where the power is locally
distributed and decentralised and MSC (Mobile
Switching Centers). The battery is installed inside
under a controlled environment, where the average
temperature is typically between +15°C to +25°C.
The Li-ion module is an interesting alternative
when compared with the conventional VRLA
battery primarily because its low weight and low
volume can minimise floor loading and the need for
building structural enhancements.
Standalone, off-grid hybrid applications - As fuel
costs continue to rise, operators are now seeking
more cost-effective ways of powering their sites.
A particularly attractive solution is to use a hybrid
system that integrates a variable speed diesel
DC generator (genset) with a deep cycling Li-ion
module. This offers an extremely energy efficient
alternative to using an AC generator operating 24/7,
since the generator simultaneously charges the
battery and powers the site load.
Outdoor and inside wireless applications with
no reliable electrical grid - typical of countries
where the grid is unreliable. In contrast to the two
previous applications, the battery can be discharged
several times a day and with a variable depth of
discharge.
When the battery is fully charged the generator
shuts down and the battery takes over as the
primary source of power. The genset runtime is
reduced to typically 4 hours per day, with major
savings in fuel consumption - usually up to 74
percent compared with a standard genset. It also
reduces CO2 emissions while increasing refuelling
and service intervals.
Again, the battery is usually installed in an
uncontrolled environment and must survive a
temperature range of -20°C to +55°C and large
variations in relative humidity. The average power
A complete hybrid system of this type can be
packaged in a compact and light ‘energy container’
to offer a turnkey solution that is quick and easy
to install in remote locations. The addition of PV
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
(photovoltaic) panels and/or wind turbines could
allow further reductions in operating costs (OPEX)
while also increasing environmental benefits.
For hybrid sites, Evolion® offers high cycling
capability and long life at deep discharge; fast
recharging; resistance to high temperatures; high
charge efficiency and ultimately low OPEX.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you
differentiate Saft from your competitors?
Joel Brunarie, Telecom Business Development
Manager, Saft: The important difference with Saft
is that we don’t focus on simply selling batteries.
We aim to design, develop, manufacture and supply
cost-effective energy storage solutions that will
ensure high performance and reliability throughout
the life of the telecom installation. We are able to do
this through our vast experience in the industrial
standby power business combined with a wide
choice of battery chemistries - including nickelbased and Li-ion technologies - provided within
dedicated telecom battery designs and supported by
the strength of our global organisation.
All this means that we are able to offer a
comprehensive approach that takes telecom
customers from a blank sheet of paper through
creating the ideal specification for their application,
designing and manufacturing the battery system,
on site installation and commissioning and then
ensuring the system always functions at peak
performance by providing through-life service
support
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 133
Special Feature:
Rooftops, masts
and towers
In this new special feature, TowerXchange speaks
to the engineers and innovators charged with
responsibility for modernising Africa’s rooftops,
masts and towers. We also look at site design
innovations that improve the economics of rural
network extensions.
The special feature opens with a Q&A with
Leadcom’s Chief Engineer, providing an
introduction to the design and strengthening of
Africa’s many single tenant towers as infrastructure
sharing becomes more prevalent. We speak to
Craig Barker, President and CEO of Geostrut, whose
carbon fibre towers have recently entered mass
production and provide a light-weight, easy to
install, long-life alternative to steel towers. Finally,
we look at the application of MER Telecom’s Light
Sites to rural network extensions in Ghana.
In part one of our rooftops, masts and
towers special feature:
135 Designing and strengthening towers for
multiple tenants
139 Geostrut’s carbon fibre towers
143 Bridging the digital divide in Ghana
134 | TowerXchange Issue 5
| www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Why 1+1 doesn’t always equal 2
when designing and strengthening
towers for multiple tenants
Leadcom explain how the load capacity of a tower is measured and upgraded
TowerXchange wanted a basic explanation
of tower design and tower strengthening for
readers who aren’t structural engineers, and
our friends at Leadcom kindly obliged! Chief
Engineer Hagai Admor’s interview takes us
from Africa’s early over- and under-designed
towers, with some towers overloaded
and some with spare capacity, to today’s
innovative tower designs that minimise initial
capex but which are upgradeable for multiple
tenants.
Hagai Admor, Leadcom
Keywords: How to Guide, Managed Services,
Steelwork, Construction, Installation, Urban vs
Rural, Co-locations, Capacity Enhancements,
Loading, Foundations, Decommissioning, Masts &
Towers, Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Leadcom
TowerXchange: Please tell us about the typical
current state of Africa’s single tenant towers
- were towers designed to accommodate
additional tenants? Is there typically spare
Equivalent Projected Area (EPA) for additional
tenants?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: In the early stages of the massive rollouts
in Africa, providers could sell their own ready-made
product towers as there was lack of standardisation.
Telecom operators defined their towers in three
basic levels:
< Standard - which was normally EIA/TIA 222
< Wind speed - which normally was 40m/s
< xx m² wind load in the top 10m
Based on these categories, customers defined and
standardised their early towers.
A few years ago, a new version of the American
standard was issued, better definitions for the
different environmental factors were considered
such as exposure area, importance factor,
topographic factor, et cetera. This was given to the
operators to be more accurate in their definitions
and specifications.
Read this article to learn:
< Why many of Africa’s towers are under- or over-designed
< How the capacity of a tower was previously measured, and how it’s now measured based on exact loading
< How much capacity is required to add a second and a third tenant
< How service can be maintained when you can no longer avoid replacing rusty old towers
< How to control the capital outlay on new towers while retaining the flexibility to upgrade for multiple tenants
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
The fact is that most of the “old” towers, sold based
on “old” standards, were not a product of new,
cutting edge analysis and engineering tools, so they
weren’t accurately tailored to suit environmental
factors. As a result, some older towers are underdesigned and overloaded, while some of them are
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 135
over-designed and can accommodate additional
loading.
Another factor which has a major impact on the
tower load is that with the technology evolution
over the years (2G, 3G, PDH, SDH etc), operators
added equipment to the towers without considering
the designed capacity, and we have found some
tower members that were over loaded by 300-400%!
With today’s know-how, we define towers based
on exact loading. Unless it is requested by the
customer, we do not mention the equivalent
projected area at the top, but express the load as a
function of the specific equipment to be mounted,
such as antenna models, mounting apparatus,
microwave dishes, coaxial feeders, vertical cable
ladder, et cetera.
Expressing the tower capacity as a number of
square meters at the top of the tower normally
confuses the customer since some include feeders
and some don’t, some express the load in a
distributed method and some in a concentrated
method, and some of the suppliers apply the load on
one leg in one azimuth and some not.
With the size of recent equipment, we rarely find
that additional tenants cannot be added due to real
estate issues and we believe that there is always a
solution that can be found.
Where once people would have talked about
towers having 5, 10 or 15 square meters of capacity,
towercos talk mainly about the number of tenants a
136 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
tower has capacity for.
TowerXchange: How much additional capacity is
required to add a second or third tenant? Does
the load capacity increase proportionally; do you
need double the capacity for a second tenant and
three times the capacity for a third?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: No, 1 + 1 does not always equal 2 when it
comes to adding tenants to towers! Sometimes 1 + 1
equals 1.5 and in other cases 1 + 1 equals 2.5!
To explain it simply, if a 1kg force is acting on a
40m pole, then the moment is 40kgm, but if the
same 1kg is acting on a 35m level (5m below top),
the moment is 35kgm. Equipment for an additional
tenant placed at the top of a 40m tower creates a
greater moment, a greater load, than if the same
equipment was placed 5m below the top. So you see
adding additional tenants do not mean the load on
the tower rises proportionally.
Additional equipment for the current or for a new
tenant placed on top of a tower versus placing
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
interference. If the tower is already occupied,
available slots may not be the optimum, and the
space may or may not meet their needs. Some
compromises may be possible with the location of
RF equipment, but if they want to transmit data
from one site to another via microwave then they
need line of site, so if that’s not possible it tends to
be a go / no go question.
TowerXchange: How does the tower location
affect capacity, for example in areas with high
wind speeds?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: The new American standard takes
into account environmental factors that directly
influence tower performance. Which means that a
tower in a sheltered urban area can be loaded more
than the same tower if be located in open terrain.
In addition, towers that are located on the top of a
hill can carry lower loads then towers located in flat
open terrain.
the same equipment 5m below the top will create
different moments and forces along the tower.
Loading the tower at different heights causes
change in its static forces distribution. The tower
body changes and members with initial utilisation
might see additional force which will lead to
exceeding the member’s capacity.
Operators want their equipment at a specific height
to optimise coverage and capacity and to minimise
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Moreover the latest version of the standard
takes into account the level of importance of the
structures, such as whether the tower is a switch
site. In addition to that, better and more accurate
data on wind speed in different regions can be
identified today, not like in the past where a whole
country was considered with one or maximum two
wind zones. The effects of site-specific topographic
parameters introduced in the latest version of the
“EIA/TIA-222 G” version have a significant influence
on the tower’s actual capacity. Towers that were
procured and erected during early rollouts without
site-specific design can now, in the re-analysis
stage, show very poor results due to topographic/
environmental conditions and lose most of their
potential vacant capacity to increased wind loads.
TowerXchange: What ultimately defines the load
capacity of a tower?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: The capacity of the tower is defined by
the most stressed element/member in the tower. It
can be a leg in the bottom section, but also can be
diagonal or horizontal in the middle section.
In some cases when analysing towers that have
lower quality bolts, we find that the most stressed
element/member is a bolt and the capacity of the
entire tower is defined according to that.
The way you modulate the tower is of critical
importance, on one hand the geometry and the
screening of the members, and the other hand
modulating the antennas and accessories in their
exact location (height and azimuth and tower
leg).
TowerXchange: What are the most common
approaches to strengthening a tower structure?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: The engagement of a turnkey provider
can bring the towerco the most cost effective
solution for strengthening towers. We are not
bringing just a pure engineering approach, but we
also add aspects from manufacturing, delivery leadwww.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 137
The approach of replacing a leg with a bigger/
thicker leg is not necessarily the right solution.
Replacing a leg often seems to be a straight-forward,
feasible solution, but the risks entailed can cause
the tower to collapse if poorly executed. Our
approach to tower strengthening is on a case by
case basis since each tower has it own parameters
in terms of loading, wind speed, and environmental
factors. It is like a heart surgery where you have a
procedure that you go by but each patient is unique.
A more sophisticated or innovative approach to
tower strengthening, other than simply replacing
failed members with stronger ones, is to change
the static design and model geometry of the tower
by installing additional members in a way that will
better distribute the various forces within the tower
main members, thus reducing the overstress in
some of those members. TowerXchange: When would you recommend
replacing rather than upgrading a tower? How
can service be maintained during transition to a
replacement tower?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: We do everything in our engineering
capabilities to find solutions to keep the same tower
and to reinforce it rather than replacing the tower.
138 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
The consequences of replacement not only involve
the direct cost of the new tower but also lack of land
(as normally the new tower will be tied in to the
existing one), implementation of a new foundation,
and telecom equipment cut-over which introduces
a risk to the continuation of site performance.
During the past three years I remember very few
sites that we recommended dismantling. In most
of the cases the reason was that our survey team
found heavy rust on the structure. Replacement of
towers because of inability to strengthen is rarely
necessary and this is appreciated by our customers.
One of the key elements that lead us when we
design tower strengthening is the continuity of the
site’s service; this is why we prefer to add members
rather than replace members.
In some cases, specifically rooftop sites with
severely deteriorated or poorly designed towers
that must be replaced, we solve the downtime/
service continuity problems by erecting a lightduty (very small footprint) temporary tower just
outside the compound parcel, which is used during
the construction period of the replacement rooftop
tower, and then dismantled and reused on another
location.
TowerXchange: Finally, how can tower operators
control capital outlay on new towers whilst
still having the flexibility to upgrade them for
multiple tenants?
Hagai Admor, Chief Engineer, Leadcom Integrated
Solutions: Since 2010 Leadcom has undertaken
thousands of structural analysis surveys and
“
“
time, shipment and implementation which results
in a tailor made solution for each specific site. We
believe that our vast field experience with great
engineering knowledge is a great benefit to the
towerco.
we devised a methodology to
make a tower easily upgradable
to accommodate extra tenants
without interrupting service
strengthened an enormous amount of towers. From
that experience, we devised a methodology to make
a tower easily upgradable to accommodate extra
tenants without interrupting service.
If the customer doesn’t want to deploy the capex
to rollout towers with multi-tenant capacity now,
we can install a light model tower with geometry
capable of adding or upgrading members to
achieve higher loading on the same tower without
downtime or changes to the foundation. We install
an MM Series tower (with medium load capacity)
with the potential to upgrade to an MMTP site
(suitable for harsh topographic environments, or
additional tenants) using 100% the same geometry
but with the addition of certain members to achieve
a 30-40% higher load on the tower.
Clients seeking this kind of flexibility in capex
deployment and upgradeable capacity are usually
towercos, who can use these towers to mitigate the
risk that it will take time to sell additional tenancies
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Carbon fibre towers now mass
produced and offer many advantages
over steel
Light weight, easy installation towers ideal for remote cell sites and rooftops
in emerging markets
Geostrut will be unveiling an exciting new innovation in
tower manufacturing at the TowerXchange Meetup. It’s been
a long time coming, but carbon fibre towers are finally being
mass produced - it’s been worth the wait! Carbon fibre towers
have some genuine advantages over steel in terms of weight,
ease of installation and corrosion resistance. TowerXchange
caught up with President and CEO Craig Barker to learn about
the potential use cases of carbon fibre towers in emerging
markets.
Craig Barker, Geostrut
Keywords: Who’s Who, TowerXchange Meetup Preview,
Passive Equipment, Construction, Installation, Capex, Colocations, Carbon Fibre, Loading, Health & Safety, Foundations,
Logistics, Rooftops, Masts & Towers, Africa, Americas (North),
Americas (South), Asia, Geostrut
Read this article to learn:
< How carbon fibre towers are able to compete on price and wind load capacity with steel: lattice carbon
fibre structures with a carbon fibre skin
< The advantages of carbon fibre towers over steel: weight, ease of installation and long life
< Why carbon fibre structures are particularly strong alternatives for rooftops
< How many tenants can be accommodated on a carbon fibre tower?
< The current costs of a Geostrut’s towers and their plans to manufacture in Africa
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce Geostrut to our
readers.
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: Geostrut is an eight year old company our carbon fibre towers are our third generation
technology, launched four and a half years ago. The
prototypes we’ve built have been well received, and
we’ve refined the product and completed our mass
production process just three weeks ago. We’re
ready to introduce a product design that is ready to
compete head to head with steel towers on price.
Some people wonder how we compete with steel
tower manufacturers, a mature, 75-100 year old
industry, when we’re this new innovation that has
only just gone into mass production. One of the keys
to commercialising carbon fibre towers has been
that suppliers of our raw materials have identified
that our company has the potential to be the largest
consumer of carbon fibre in the world. Thus, we are
the recipient of very aggressive raw material pricing.
Other applications of carbon fibre, even aviation,
use a limited amount of raw material. But because
we’re talking about infrastructure, the potential of
the market is huge. Add to this a nearly automated
manufacturing process and the price of our product
has become very competitive.
We’re going to concentrate on the wireless market
first, then consider moving into power transmission,
automotive, aerospace and construction applications
in the future. But we’re not moving on from wireless
until we’re immersed in the business and we’ve
mastered the mass production for this industry.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 139
Geostrut identified wireless as our core target
market five years ago. The tensile and compressive
strength of carbon fibre is well known, but used
alone it would have needed so much raw material
as to not be competitively priced against steel.
Carbon fibre also didn’t have the bending and impact
strength to withstand the wind loading required
in telecoms. So we developed a lattice carbon fibre
inner structure with a carbon fibre skin, and this
combination requires less raw material while giving
us independently certified bending strength to meet
the wind load capacity requirements of telecoms.
We have secured a couple of patents and have a
couple more pending.
We conducted a study with a major US aerospace
company who were working with thin walled, pure
carbon fibre tubes on a top secret project. They
compared the strength of their pure carbon fibre
tubes with our lattice Geostrut structures that use
“
“
directionalised carbon fibre enabling us to use
half as much raw material, and found our lattices
structures equal to or stronger and approximately
half the weight of the pure carbon fibre tubes.
Carbon fibre towers weigh
about one tenth of the
weight of an equivalent steel
monopole. This is critical for
logistics
140 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: What are the advantages of
carbon fibre over steel towers?
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: Carbon fibre towers have three main
advantages over steel towers: weight, ease of
installation and resistance to corrosion.
Carbon fibre towers weigh about one tenth of the
weight of an equivalent steel monopole. This is
critical for logistics. Geostrut’s tapered monopole
sections can be taken apart and nested, so a 26m
tapered monopole is nested into the base section and
the entire carbon structure weighs just 249kg. We
can get eighteen such towers in a 40ft container! We
are targeting opening regionalised manufacturing
facilties, but for now we can manufacture and ship
towers from the US to Africa for just US$250-300 per
tower delivery costs.
Of course inland logistics are even more critical
given the under-developed state of the road network
in many African countries. Moving light-weight
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
a crane means there is no need to pass heavy
transportation and installation vehicles along underdeveloped road networks.
Another advantage of carbon fibre is that it doesn’t
corrode like steel, which means less maintenance
visits and opex. We also have an additive to our resin
that prevents damage by UV rays.
We quote the same 50 year lifetime as steel but
frankly we’re being conservative - industry
standards attribute other carbon fibre structures
quote significantly longer lifespans. The biggest
difference in lifespan occurs in corrosive
environments such as marine, coastline and island
locations, where a steel tower can rust in less than
20 years. A carbon fibre tower is good for at least 50
years, regardless of the application.
Geostrut towers come out black, but can be painted
for high visibility applications such as near airports.
TowerXchange: What are the typical use-cases of
Geostrut’s carbon fibre towers?
Geostrut towers to remote locations is a lot easier
than moving the equivalent steel structures. Our
towers can be moved on a regular truck trailer, and
individual sections of our towers can even be moved
around by hand by a couple of guys - on most of our
designs, the heaviest section is 100kg. So not only
are carbon fibres inexpensive to move, they are also
safer to handle because they’re not as heavy.
Let’s talk about ease of installation. Labour
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
requirements are much lower than for steel towers
- you can assemble a Geostrut tower and erect it at
a new site in half a day. The bottom section is bolted
to the base (there may be a need for a small change
to the foundation, but it incurs little cost), then the
foundation can be hinged, so you can assemble it on
the ground and complete erection by hand swinging
it up with ropes. This is important because heavy
equipment to install structures is often not readily
available in emerging markets, and not needing
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: While we have designs up to 50m, to date
we’ve manufactured up to 32m.
We compete primarily with steel monopoles. I
remember visiting India two and a half years ago
when they had just rolled out hundreds of thousands
of three and four legged towers for 3G. At that time
nobody wanted to talk about monopoles - now the
market is maturing toward 4G, no-one talks about
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 141
Carbon fibre has a real advantage on rooftops
because of its light weight. I remember speaking
to a tower executive in India who said he couldn’t
put steel structures on rooftops in certain sectors of
the country because the buildings weren’t strong
enough. Especially in emerging markets where
building construction standards aren’t the same, a
lot more rooftop sites are going to be viable options
using 6-18m carbon fibre rooftop towers than if you
use steel.
TowerXchange: What’s the maximum capacity of
your carbon fibre towers in terms of tenants?
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: We’ve built structures with capacity for the
antennas with microwave dishes of three tenants,
and good for wind speeds up to 55m/s, which is
sufficient for the majority of multi-tenant towers.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the capital outlay
required on a per tower basis.
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and
CEO, Geostrut: It depends where the tower is
manufactured and local labour costs, and we’re
determined to develop localised manufacturing
bases.
Based on manufacture in our current US factory, we
can produce a 24m tower for US$8-10,000 and 30m
for $11-13,000 depending on loading and wind speed.
Which means both manufacturing costs and shipping
142 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
“
Especially in emerging markets
where building construction
standards aren’t the same, a lot
more rooftop sites are going to
be viable options using 6-18m
carbon fibre rooftop towers than
if you use steel
“
towers over 40m, and monopoles are preferred!
are very competitive to steel in the US and Europe.
We can beat the price of equivalent steel monopoles
in some regions, it’s tougher to beat the price of steel
structures in other regions that source inexpensive
steel locally.
TowerXchange: What is Geostrut’s interest in the
African market?
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: Geostrut are going to be making our
African debut at the TowerXchange Meetup next
month.
Africa is experiencing very rapid growth in telecoms
and the opportunities for us on the continent are
very exciting. We have partnered with Connect
Africa, a specialist in rural telecoms, to determine
the size of the opportunity. They want to reduce
overall site infrastructure costs in the rural market
and see real benefit in the ability to quickly and costeffectively deploy light-weight towers in areas that
are difficult to access. We are aiming to build a local
manufacturing capability in Africa by the middle of
2014, in collaboration with the entrepreneur backing
Connect Africa.
TowerXchange: I appreciate Geostrut have only
just moved from prototypes to mass production,
but do you have any towers already installed that
prove their performance in the field?
Craig Barker, Co-founder, President and CEO,
Geostrut: We currently have two towers standing in
Brazil, three in Australia, and one delivered but not
yet standing in India. The oldest structure went up
two years ago with no reported problems since.
We only finished the mass production process three
weeks ago, but we already have orders for our first
36 towers - including nine going to Malaysia to an
operator who is excited to be the early adopter in
that part of the world! Plus we have two towers
leaving our facility by air freight to Africa - including
a two section tower to be assembled outside the
TowerXchange Meetup!
Visit Geostrut at booth #16 at the TowerXchange
Meetup and see their innovative carbon fibre tower
installed in the courtyard outside! To register for the
Meetup, visit:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Bridging the digital divide
in Ghana
How to make rural communications commercially viable
How can innovations in passive and active
infrastructure and energy equipment support
the objectives of governments and universal
access funds to accelerate the extension of rural
connectivity? TowerXchange took a closer look at
GIFEC and at what they have achieved working
with MER Telecom to connect remote villages
in Ghana. We also look at how similar business
models, technology and operational solutions
could be applied to support similar universal
access initiatives.
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER Telecom
Keywords: TowerXchange Meetup Preview,
Managed Services, Energy, O&M, Capex, Universal
Access, Opex Reduction, Batteries, Urban vs Rural,
Off-Grid, Hybrid Power, Solar, Africa, Ghana,
GIFEC, MER Telecom
Read this article to learn:
< How GIFEC use Light Sites to connect isolated, off-grid villages
< Using solar panels, CDC batteries and a low energy consumption BTS to reduce opex to 10-20% of the
costs to maintain a regular site
< The cost-effectiveness of VSAT connectivity in rural areas
< How VAS like mobile money drive rural connectivity and how rural connectivity drives mobile money!
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
TowerXchange: Please introduce us to GIFEC
and to your work with them to accelerate rural
connectivity in Ghana.
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic
Communication (GIFEC) is a nonprofit agency of
the Ghanaian Government, funded by a levy on
mobile network operators revenues, to facilitate the
provision of universal access to electronic services to
unserved and underserved communities in Ghana.
GIFEC aims to connect isolated villages, typically
with 1,000 to 2,000 citizens, that may generate too
low ARPU to be profitable for MNOs to connect under
their standard business model. To communicate,
people in these villages had to walk 10 to 15 km to get
sufficient cellular coverage to enable a phone call.
GIFEC issued a tender and MER Telecom’s Light
BTS Site concept was chosen based on the following
criteria: proven experience in rural projects,
coverage capability and low power consumption
(150W). We have initially deployed ten Light Sites
with renewable energy solutions. Light Site includes
a 35m triangular tower, micro BTS, Wi-Fi and VSAT
equipment, plus a hybrid energy solution.
TowerXchange: Tell us more about the energy
solution designed for these sites.
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: Energy source design is very important
at these sites and, as all the villages were off-grid,
power supply for the site was sourced from a hybrid
energy system that combines a solar array of ten
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 143
solar panels of 280W each and a set of deep cycle
batteries. The challenge was to provide a total
solution at minimum capex and opex, by avoiding
the need for a diesel generator onsite which would
have meant a different and costly business model.
Also, a solar-only solution avoids fuel supply and fuel
theft problems.
TowerXchange: Talk to us about the active
equipment you installed.
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: The challenge in selecting the right active
equipment was to balance the need to provide
enough capacity and coverage in order to serve the
entire village and at the same time, ensure that the
BTS had the minimum possible energy consumption
(in order not to require a diesel generator on
site) and ensure a minimum satellite bandwidth
consumption in order to avoid a high opex due to
wide bandwidth consumption.
MER Telecom came up with a turnkey solution
including active equipment, in this case a micro
BTS with 2 TRX capacity (expandable on demand).
This was much cheaper and more efficient than a
standard BTS. The solution we delivered, which we
call Light Site, had enough capacity and bandwidth
to support the needs of the villages around, yet the
power consumption and bandwidth required were
very low. If we’d used a normal BTS then we would
have needed more solar panels, and the site would
have become bigger and more expensive.
Based on a specification from GIFEC, the equipment
was purchased from a variety of different suppliers,
144 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
with MER Telecom as the integrator. MER Telecom
produce the passive equipment. Since we do not
manufacture active equipment, we selected the right
suppliers in order to meet the client’s specs and
requirements.
TowerXchange: Under what business model are
these sites going to be brought to market? Is it a
revenue share?
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: It’s not a revenue share model in this case.
GIFEC has purchased the turnkey sites. When the
site build will be completed, they will be available to
connect to different operators. In this case I believe
GIFEC is working with Vodafone Ghana, but it could
be other operators as well or even become a multiple
operators site. Either way, GIFEC remains the owner
of the site.
TowerXchange: Could the business model be
extended to have multiple tenants sharing the
sites?
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: We can install the antennas of several
different operators on these towers, but in a village
that might have 500 users, hosting three tenants
would make the site much more expensive in terms
of additional capacity and energy, so GIFEC have
deployed different sites with different operators.
GIFEC would evaluate whether there was a case to
deploy more capex to add additional solar panels or
batteries and support additional tenants. The loading
starts very low with just one tenant using standard
size antennas and small microwave dishes - every
Light Site: a 35m triangular tower, micro BTS,
Wi-Fi and VSAT, plus hybrid energy solution
site can be upgraded.
It is important to mention that there is no technical
limitation in creating a multi-tenant site. The only
limitation is the business aspect. If the village is large
enough, a multi-tenant site can be a viable solution.
TowerXchange: How does the capex and opex of a
Light Site compare to normal cell sites?
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: With Light Sites, maintenance costs are a
few hundred dollars per month - probably 10-20%
of the opex of a regular site which might require
US$2,000-2,500 per month and even more when
considering the difficulties of maintaining rural sites
separated by large distances.
I can’t be too specific about the capex because we’re
under NDA, but the BTS and passive infrastructure
costs less than half of the cost of a regular site.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
TowerXchange: Tell us about the energy footprint
of the Light Site solution
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: Light Site consumes 150-200W in total,
compared to a regular BTS which might require
1,500W. This is the reason why a diesel generator is
not needed with Light Site.
Each Light Site can be tailored to local power
requirements by varying the size of the PV array
according to hours of available sunlight, with a
battery bank of a different size according to the
number of hours of autonomy required.
The hybrid systems are monitored by MER Telecom’s
own smart controller which monitors and activates
the solar and battery energy sources according to the
availability of each. We selected a deep cycle battery
with a lifetime longer than standard batteries to
reduce battery related maintenance costs.
TowerXchange: Talk to us about the merits of
VSAT in rural areas.
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: We chose the VSAT connectivity solution
due to its cost effectiveness in rural areas where
there is no line of sight to any existing cellular
operator. The VSAT requires very low bandwidth and
as such reduces each site’s monthly opex.
TowerXchange: What is the appetite for other
Universal Access Funds to engage in similar
projects?
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: We are seeking to promote and duplicate
this model beyond Ghana with other organisations
with the same objective as GIFEC in order to develop
and facilitate digital access.
have also expressed their interest in our Light Site
solution, although it’s a challenge to make the energy
solution viable from a capex and opex point of view
when capacity for two to three tenants per site is
needed.
Universal Access Funds exist to close the digital
divide, and building cell sites in remote villages
shows the population that they are acting on
their behalf to extend communications to the
underserved.
Mobile Network Operators are offering an increasing
number of VAS platforms that bridge urban and
rural areas, such as mobile education and mobile
money. How can an urban migrant send money
home if there are no connections in the rural village
where his family lives? ARPU from voice services is
not enough to make many rural network extensions
viable, so it is imperative to develop additional value
added services like mobile money, which in turn
drive the need to cover the maximum population
- it’s a cycle. Innovative solutions like Light Site
can transform the economics of rural network
extensions that otherwise might be loss-making.
In the past many Universal Access Funds have been
focused more on fibre optic connectivity in urban
areas, however now their attention is focused more
and more on rural areas hence projects like GIFEC’s
are becoming more viable and common.
TowerXchange: Who is the “client” when seeking
opportunities on similar projects?
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: The client in most cases is the Universal
Access Funds which are administered by Ministry of
Telecommunication and/or the regulator.
TowerXchange: Are there other use cases for
Light Site?
Arie Ben-Dayan, Marketing & Sales Director, MER
Telecom: Yes, we are definitely targeting also the
MNOs which are aiming to provide coverage and
services access to the rural population at minimum
cost. Light Site is used by MNOs as well as Universal
Access Funds, which in some cases are driven by
license obligations to extend coverage. Towercos
It’s time to reconsider the deployment of full size
cell sites in rural areas. For example hundreds of the
regular cell sites deployed in rural Congo have been
switched off because of the monthly maintenance
cost which is higher than the monthly revenue
generated. Using a small, lightweight site which
incurs minimum capex and opex might offer lower
capcity and bandwidth, but at least there is available
service.
MER Telecom will be hosting a round table at the
TowerXchange Meetup on “How to make rural
communications commercially viable”. For more
information, visit:
www.towerxchange.com/meetups/africa
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 145
Matrix of African tower design, manufacture, installation and managed service providers
TowerXchange profiles the capabilities, experience and footprint of proven suppliers
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
1,500+
1999 in Egypt
270
Acquire &
lease
ADNA
Footprint: Currently only operate in Egypt and supply products for Africa and Middle East. Before ADNA had been in Algeria and Sudan
Sample clients: Vodafone Egypt, Mobinil, Etisalat, Huawei, Orange, Omnia and Omantel
Company profile: TowerXchange issue four, pages 83-86 or visit www.towerxchange.com/african-towerco-investor-may-be-required-as-tower-sharing-moves-to-phase-two-in-egypt/
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
Alkan CIT
TOC
Acquire &
lease
TP
Interested
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
12,000
1998
1,100+
Footprint: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania (plus Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE in the Middle East)
Sample clients: Airtel, Comium, Etisalat, Expresso, FT-Orange, Libyana, MobiNil, MTN, Safaricom, Sotelma, Sudatel, Vodacom, Vodafone, Wataniya, Yu, Zain and Zantel, Telecom Egypt,
Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat Misr
Company profile: TowerXchange issue four, pages 79-82 or visit www.towerxchange.com/alkans-end-to-end-services-leveraging-tower-sharing-plans-in-egypt
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Camusat
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
5,000
1940s
1,500 worldwide,
843 in Africa
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
20,000
1977
1,500
Acquire &
lease
TP
African Footprint: Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali,
Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Uganda
Sample clients: France Telecom/Orange, Digicell, Eaton Towers, Bulgaria Telecom, ZTE, Telma, TowerCo of Madagascar
Company profile: TowerXchange issue two, pages 96-99 or visit www.towerxchange.com/whatever-it-takes-to-get-it-done
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
EEC Group
Footprint: Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Senegal, South Sudan and Sudan
Sample clients: Vodafone Egypt, MobiNil, Etisalat, Comium, Djezzy, Sudatel, Sotelma MaliTel, Alcatel, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 60-62 or visit www.towerxchange.com/eec-group-positioning-itself-to-partner-towercos-in-egypt
TP = Through Partners
146 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Ganges
Internationale
Tower Manu
TP
Permits &
licenses
Install
India
TP Africa
India
TP Africa
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
4,000
1991, in towers
since 2004
500 perminant,
1,000 contractors
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
100
2012
8
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
1997
1,200-1,500
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
5,600
1997
1,364
Acquire &
lease
Footprint: “Many countries in Africa”
Sample clients: Airtel, Vodafone, Huawei (MTN), Orange, Helios, Eaton, Ramboll and Safaricom directly and through partners
Company profile: TowerXchange issue one, pages 32-33 or visit www.towerxchange.com/driving-down-the-cost-of-multi-tenant-towers
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
GSM TP
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
TP
TP
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
Footprint: Burkina Faso, Uganda
Sample clients: Telecel, Benin Telecom, STE
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 85-89 or visit www.towerxchange.com/how-to-design-towers-for-easy-installation
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Hayat
Communications
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
TP
Footprint:
Sample clients: Etisalat, Qtel, Vodafone, Bharti, Wataniya, Ericsson, NSN, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei
Company profile: TowerXchange issue two, pages 22-23 or visit www.towerxchange.com/are-there-opportunities-for-new-market-entrant-towercos-in-africa
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
HOI-MEA
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
TP
Interested
Footprint: Full turnkey services in Egypt (HQ), Sudan, KSA, UAE and Qatar, also supplying products to Algeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and more
Sample clients: Vodafone Egypt & Qatar, Orascom, Mobinil, MTN Sudan, Zain KSA, Iraq & Sudan, du, NSN, Motorola, Ericsson, ZTE, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent
Company profile: TowerXchange issue four, pages 75-78 or visit www.towerxchange.com/hoi-mea-reinvents-itself-as-a-towerco
TP = Through Partners
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 147
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
TP
Leadcom
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
3-5,000
1982
700
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
3,000
1995
250 permanent, 500750 contractors
Acquire &
lease
TP
Footprint (Africa): Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Togo
Sample clients (Africa): Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NSN, Huawei, Airtel, Atlantique Telecom, MTN, Orange, Tigo, Vodafone, Helios TA, Eaton, ATC
Company profile: TowerXchange issue two, pages 100-102 or visit www.towerxchange.com/the-marriage-of-passive-and-active-infrastructure-management
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
TP
TP
Likusasa
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
TP
Footprint: Mauritius HQ, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Lesotho, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, SDR Guinea, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania
Sample clients: MTN, Econet, Cell C, Vodacom, Huawei, Ericsson, NSN, American Tower, Helios
Company profile: TowerXchange issue two, pages 86-89 or visit www.towerxchange.com/the-future-is-now
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
3-4,000
1948
1,400 total, 800 in
telecoms
Acquire &
lease
TP
Mer Telecom
Footprint: Angola, DRC, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania – able to perform and supply anywhere in SSA (also active in LatAm, Russia
and CIS countries)
Sample clients: Vodacom, Vodafone, Airtel, Tigo, FT-Orange, Celcom, American Tower, Huawei, ZTE
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 71-75 or visit www.towerxchange.com/one-stop-shop-turnkey-wireless-infrastructure-provider
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Mobiserve
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
18,000 in MENA
& Asia
1999
5,000
Acquire &
lease
Interested
Footprint: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, plus East Africa on a project basis. Also Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan and Bangladesh
Sample clients: Mobinil, Vodafone, Etisalat, Djezzy, Mobilink, Banglalink, Inwi, Meditel, Orange , Zain, Mobily, Huawei, Ericsson
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 57-59 or visit www.towerxchange.com/tower-deal-imminent-in-egypt
TP = Through Partners
148 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
1,600
2009
375
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
2,385
1987
350
Acquire &
lease
NETIS
Footprint (Africa): Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Uganda (with offices opening soon in Kenya and Cameroon)
Sample clients: Eaton, Helios, ATC, IHS, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, MTN, Orange, Comium, Vodafone, Mobitel, Airtel
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages XX-XX or visit www.towerxchange.com/end-to-end-services
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Acquire &
lease
NEWL
Footprint: Tanzania, Malawi. Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia offices opening soon
Sample clients: Airtel Malawi, Airtel Tanzania, NSN, Vodacom Tanzania, Zantel
Company profile: TowerXchange issue five, pages 46-51 or visit www.towerxchange.com/a-view-of-tanzania-from-the-front-lines-of-the-markets-leading-managed-service-provider
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
TP
TP
Plessey
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
12,000+
Over 50 years ago
600 full time,
2,000+ contractors
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
7,000
1945
10,000
Acquire &
lease
Footprint: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa (HQ)
Sample clients: Airtel, Helios, ATC, MTN Nigeria, MTN South Africa, Vodacom Mozambique, Vodacom Tanzania
Company profile: TowerXchange issue four, pages 93-95 or visit www.towerxchange.com/blue-chip-turnkey-infrastructure-provider-moves-into-managed-services
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Ramboll
Tower Manu
TP
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
Software
TOC
Acquire &
lease
Footprint: Pan African, continental HQ in South Africa
Sample clients: (In Africa) Huawei, NSN, ZTE, Ericsson, American Tower, IHS Africa, Helios, Airtel, Vodafone, MTN
Company profile: TowerXchange issue one, pages 34-36 or visit www.towerxchange.com/design-for-shareability
TP = Through Partners
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 149
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
3-4,000
1912
360
Acquire &
lease
Reime Group
Footprint: DRC, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia plus satellite operations in Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Sierra Leone
Sample clients: Airtel, Alcatel-Lucent, Eaton, Helios TA, Helios TN, Huawei, IHS, MTN, NSN, Safaricom, SWAP, Tigo, Vodacom, ZTE
Company profile: TowerXchange issue two, pages 91-94 or visit www.towerxchange.com/what-gets-measured-gets-done-at-reime-group
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
Permits &
licenses
Install
Managed
Services
TOC
Founded
Staff
Tens of thousands
of fences
2001
100
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Founded
Staff
1500 project
managed
2007
60
Acquire &
lease
TP
TESA
Approx # of
towers in Africa
Footprint: South Africa. Supplied to 16 countries
Sample clients: Ericsson, ZTE, NSN, MTN, Cell C, Likusasa, Plessey, QTE, Radio Network Solutions
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 81-84 or visit www.towerxchange.com/time-to-market-a-critical-differentiator-within-the-tower-industry-supply-chain
Company
Capabilities
Tower Design
Tower Manu
VNTower
Permits &
licenses
Install
TP
Managed
Services
TOC
TP
Acquire &
lease
Footprint: Currently seeking African partner
Sample clients: Viettel, Ericsson, Vietnamese Navy, Huawei, Vimpelcom, Telenor
Company profile: TowerXchange issue three, pages 90-91 or visit www.towerxchange.com/fast-deployment-at-a-reasonable-price
TP = Through Partners
Inviting other static asset manufacturers and managed service providers to be profiled in TowerXchange
If you would like to refer us to other turnkey infrastructure companies that
should be featured in this Who’s who, then please contact TowerXchange at
[email protected]. We are generally interested in companies
that have manufactured, installed or maintained at least 1,000 cell sites in
Africa, or smaller companies with a unique capability within this segment of
the tower industry supply chain.
150 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
The TowerXchange Meetup will feature a unique “Shootout” of managed
service providers; five minute demonstrations and differentiations
of the leading players in this category, giving buyers an opportunity
to compare their capabilities, match them to their organisational
requirements, and identify potential pan-African manufacturing and
service partners to receive RFPs.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Are you ready to meet the
demands of the emerging
markets data boom?
Modular, quick to deploy pre-fabricated data centres essential for the
transmission and management of data
David King, CEO, Flexenclosure
Developing countries have always had myriad
challenges for mobile operators and other
telecom companies to overcome: lack of or
substandard infrastructure, political uncertainty,
regulatory issues, challenging environments, vast
and sparsely populated geographical areas to
cover, unreliable energy supplies, poorer target
groups et cetera.
Internal view of the eCentre (Maputo)
This is a guest article submitted by David King, CEO of Flexenclosure, a specialist
developer of hybrid power systems and pre-fabricated data centres for the ICT industry.
David has decade-long experience from C-level work with many international high-tech
companies, many in emerging markets.
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
These challenges have been overcome with
ingenuity and perseverance. In many countries,
prepaid cards in small denominations sold in
numerous mobile booths have given consumers
with little money access to mobile telephony.
Off-grid base stations in Asia, the Middle East
and Africa are increasingly using green power
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 151
solutions almost completely replacing the use
of dirty and expensive diesel. In East Africa,
M-PESA and other mobile money systems have
revolutionised the way money is transferred,
making it possible for almost everybody to use
basic banking services.
Developing countries are next in line for a
data boom
So when the developing countries take the next
big step into the “post-mobile data revolution”,
there are of course going to be a number of
challenges to overcome. The penetration of data
in many of these markets is still low and prices
are still high. And even if everybody agrees that
data will take off in a big way, it is difficult to
predict when it will happen and how fast. How
can you best prepare to quickly respond to the
anticipated demand without investing too much
too early?
The biggest challenge is infrastructure. High
quality, efficient data centres are essential. They
house and power all the equipment needed for
transmission of data and are both the heart and
brain of any network. But traditional builds for
data centres take a lot of time to plan, co-ordinate
(with different suppliers) and construct.
Furthermore, challenging environments add a
lot of risk to a data centre project, often resulting
in delays and budget over-runs. Buildings for
data centres are often not purpose built to be
used as technical facilities, often with water
152 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
Lifting modules into place
leaks and other problems, as well as being overdimensioned since they cannot be expanded
quickly and easily.
Pre-fabricated modular data centres ideal for
emerging markets networks
The solution is pre-fabricated modular data
centres. They are quicker to deploy and will in
most cases save considerable time and money
compared to traditional brick and mortar
buildings. The facility will always be the “right”
size since its modular structure makes it easy to
quickly expand in response to changing needs.
More efficient power and cooling will make a prefabricated data centre more cost effective to run.
And quality, budget and the time plan can more
easily be ensured for pre-fabricated purpose built
facilities, bringing predictability to the project.
A pre-fabricated solution also makes it much
easier to customise the data centre for specific
needs and it can be deployed anywhere. Let
us take a look at a live example: Vodacom in
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Mozambique (a subsidiary of Vodafone) recently
decided to deploy a modular data centre (the
eCentre) on top of a six-storey parking garage next
to its corporate headquarters in central Maputo,
the capital of this southeast African country.
The roof top turn-key deployment is a 126 square
meter open space data centre. Vodacom needed to
put the facility in place quickly, efficiently, and on
time. The pre-fabricated build reduced the project
risk significantly because the construction work
was all done in ten weeks in a clean environment
(in Sweden) and the installation work needed on
site was completed in only eight days, in total a
fraction of what a similar local brick and mortar
project would have taken.
Speed and predictability in challenging
environments are critical issues in Africa
considering it is the fastest growing mobile
market in the world and the take off for data
could be right around the corner. Pre-fabricated,
modular and custom-designed data centres that
can be deployed very quickly, and easily redeployed if needed, is yet another innovative
solution to an African problem (or rather African
situation, since there is nothing problematic with
fast growth).
The eCentre Build by Flexenclosure for Vodacom
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
It is a solution that will allow data centre owners
- internet service providers, hosting companies,
mobile operators and banks - in developing
countries to act quickly and confidently towards a
demand for data that might be stronger than any
of us expect
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 153
Cell site security and
access control problems?
There’s an app for that!
TowerXchange: Tell us about your new app David.
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: With
the rapid proliferation of smart phones, and their
lowered costs, and based on the demand of some of
our customers, we saw the opportunity to create an
app that integrates the CGS into a smartphone app and
some added features which are very useful for remote
Acsys has designed and successfully deployed
a solution called the CGS (Code Generating
System) which allows control centers (such as
a telco or towerco’s NOC) to give users with
programmed keys access to any site, anytime,
anywhere by issuing a single-usage time-limited
code that is issued by the software. The user
needs to contact the control center by phone
or SMS to get the real-time code which in
turn alerts the control center that someone is
accessing the site. The advantage of the Acsys
CGS solution is that any phone can be used,
making its application universal.
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys
Keywords: Access Control, Monitoring &
Management, Fuel security, Health & Safety, KPIs,
Site Visits, RMS, Site Management System, Fencing,
Africa, Acsys
site workers.
One of the significant features is the geo-location or
geo-fencing solution. This allows the system to be run
automatically and only generate access codes if a user
has reached a specific location defined by latitude and
longitude. This function also allows the control center
to know in real-time where the users are located which
can be of very significant value when a site is down and
an assessment needs to be made on who is closest to
the site and certified for that type of maintenance.
TowerXchange: What other functionality does the
app have?
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: Based on
customer input, we also added several other features.
Task assignment, scheduling and reporting whenever an event is created through the remote site
Read this article to learn:
management platform, the user will receive a message
< Issuing a single usage, time limited code enabling specific users to access sites using programmed keys
with a clear description of the task, location and
< How to “close the loop” on task management and job ticketing, reducing downtime
others. Multiple tasks can be assigned to a user. Upon
< Live chat and access to document repositories to enhance remote worker support
completion the user can report back to the NOC with
< How customers are using the app to minimise theft, generate KPIs and optimise maintenance processes
< Sharing critical information and images with emergency services to improve H&S
154 | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
the result of his work allowing the NOC to either close
or leave the event as pending.
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 |
XX
Optionally a dynamic solution can be proposed which,
NOC now has real-time feedback of where the user is,
work fully independently or fully integrated. The
after the creation of the event, the software will
and also can control when the user opens and locks a
integrated version (ex with Remedy) gives a full and
determine which available and certified user is closest
site.
clear reporting of who was assigned to the task, when,
to a site which is down, leading to an intervention and
where this user was located, when he requested access
a significant decrease in downtime. We have often
In some cases the company required a vendor to go on
to get in, when he requested access to get out and how
seen that some people travel one hour to get to a site
site but they arrived only within the limit of the two
much time was spent on site. By making everything
when in fact another technician was only 15 minutes
hours as specified by contract when in fact they could
electronic, we also prevent collusion between
away leading to a waste of resources and increased
have gone much sooner as staff were available, but
employees.
downtime.
since the NOC didn’t know where those staff were and
if they were available they had no data on which to
Event documenting - events can be documented
base a conversation about improving service with the
through picture taking (for example in cases of broken
vendor.
or vandalised equipment) and to document events from
TowerXchange: What does it cost?
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: In order
to lower barriers so that everyone can use the app,
the site such as broken trees, floods, fires et cetera.
The task scheduling was also a significant step
we have decided to make the app free of charge and
With time, date and location stamp information, this
forward as many times issues arose with users going
available to the public on the Android store starting 1
data is genuine, reliable and impossible to defraud.
to the wrong sites or carrying out the wrong tasks as
November 2013.
communication over the phone wasn’t good, leading to
Live bridge between user and NOC - the app also
misunderstandings.
has a chat platform allowing the user to communicate
TowerXchange: How does using the app improve
health, safety and security at emerging market cell
directly with the NOC and other users of the app to get
As a prominent company in the telco industry, they
information and advice.
also felt they had a moral obligation to ensure staff
sites?
security by knowing where they are. If a member of
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: By providing
Document repository - allowing the user to access
staff doesn’t move for three hours even though his
real-time location and location-based code generation
data sheets for new equipment and/or other documents
maintenance task should only take 45 minutes, the
we are able to improve operational efficiency in a
that are stored on the company intranet.
NOC knows there might be some issues with the site or
significant way allowing for more efficient, controlled
the user himself. Moreover the data which is created
and rapid response to events. This data in turns
TowerXchange: Please tell us about one of your
serves as a benchmark for future interventions in
serves to create KPI’s and benchmarks for similar
customers who are using the app.
terms of time spent to reach site, and time spent to
interventions in the future.
complete a recurring task.
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: Our first
Equally the NOC is now able to see where all their
customer was mostly interested in the geo-fencing
TowerXchange: How does the app integrate with site
workers are and in the case of conflict or emergency,
solution as they had dealt with a number of cases
management and job ticketing systems back at the
the NOC can provide support to the user and/or send
where a user gained access to a site and then left
NOC?
emergency services to the user’s location. By allowing
without closing it, allowing others to gain access and
steal equipment. With the geo-fencing and CGS, the
XX | TowerXchange Issue 5 | www.towerxchange.com
pictures to be sent to the NOC instantly, events can be
David Meganck, Founder and COO, Acsys: It can
acted upon in a more efficient way
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 5 | 155
Tower
© 2013 Site Seven Media Ltd
Xchange
Design by BLACKLIGHT Design Agency