Infrastructure sharing,
deployment of innovative solutions and investment in infrastructure upgrades to
build the foundation of a 5G-ready Pakistan
Islamabad, 31 January
2019–With the nation’s smartphone penetration rate expected to grow from
the current 30% to over 60% in the next five years, integrated regional
telecommunications infrastructure services provider edotco Group SdnBhd
(“edotco”), through its local operations edotco Pakistan, today reinforced its
position as the country’s nation building partner by highlighting its
commitment to shaping Pakistan’s telecommunications landscape to be future
ready, while overcoming challenges to effectively manage and grow the
infrastructure industry.
To meet the projected fivefold spike in mobile data usage,
Pakistan’s telecommunications industry will need over 30,000 new tower sites by
2022, double the amount it has now. The new sites will be coverage sites to
extend connectivity to rural and hard to reach areas, as well as capacity
sites, to meet the increasing data usage growth, as more users transition from
3G to 4G and beyond.
“We are optimistic about Pakistan’s encouraging
connectivity developments however, studies show that at least 14,000
telecommunication towers throughout the country are overlapping, leading to the
duplication of resources and structural inefficiencies. As such, beyond
increasing the number of towers to meet the growing usage, it will be more
efficient to look at decreasing the number of overlapped sites through
infrastructure sharing and explore ways to manage and grow the number of
towers,” said Suresh Sidhu, Chief Executive Officer for edotco Group.
Infrastructure sharing has proven to help MNOs by
alleviating the cost pressure of building and maintaining towers, whilst
enabling them to focus on their core business and new service creation. By
reducing overlapping sites and increasing tenancy ratio per tower, the industry
will see a significant reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) and annual
operating expenses (OPEX).
Sidhu elaborated “At the moment, the towers in Pakistan
are operating at approximately 4,300 subscribers per tower – more than twice
the 2,000 per tower ratio recommended. Building and maintaining this
infrastructure requires a substantial capital investment and resources from
MNOs. Considering this, edotco is ready to introduce innovations and invest in
upgrades that will support faster, better and more cost-efficient shared
network infrastructure throughout Pakistan.”
With its industry expertise and strong presence in the
region, edotco is able to bench mark industry standards and bring in best
practices to help realise the Digital Pakistan vision.
“We are keen to partner with the local ecosystem towards
transforming the telecommunications landscape. To date, edotco has invested
over USD100 million to establish and grow its local operations. Pakistan and
Malaysia have shared a healthy bilateral relationship and we look forward to
leading the way in telecommunications investment while playing a part in
achieving the country’s digital agenda” he added
edotco Group SdnBhd
1022843-U Tel +60 3 2262 1388
Level 30 Axiata TowerFax +60 3 2262 1308/9
9
JalanStesenSentral 5 Web www.edotcogroup.com
Kuala
Lumpur Sentral
50470
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Over the years, edotco has been deploying innovative
solutions throughout the region including built-to-suit (BTS) hotels,
in-building solutions (IBS), small cell solutions and combined antenna systems.
The infrastructure services provider has also tapped its use of next-generation
technology such as predictive analytics, automation and digitalization, for a
more proactive and efficient way in managing telecommunication
infrastructure.
edotco currently owns and manages over 28,500 towers
across the six countries in which they have a presence. Over the past five
years the company has been committed to ensuring the right sharable
infrastructure is constructed and efficiently managed to assist mobile
operators in delivering cost effective and seamless connectivity.
-END-
About
edotco Group
Established in 2012, edotco is the first regional and
integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia,
providing end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector from tower leasing,
co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and
maintenance (O&M).
edotco operates and manages a regional portfolio of over
28,500 towers across core markets of Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Sri Lanka and Pakistan with 17,500 towers directly operated by edotco and a
further 11,000 towers managed through a range of services provided. edotco
strives to deliver outstanding performance in telecommunications infrastructure
services and solutions. Its state-of-the-art real-time monitoring service,
echo, has driven significant improvements in field operations while maximizing
operational efficiencies in terms of battery, energy and fuel consumption for
telecommunications infrastructure.
edotco Group was recently awarded the Frost & Sullivan
2017 Asia Pacific Telecoms Tower Company of the Year Award for its demonstrated
exemplary business growth and performance in Southeast Asia.
For media enquiries, please contact:
AnnushiaBalavijendran
edotco Group Corporate Communications
Tel: +603 2268 6014
E-mail: annushia@edotcogroup.com
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