ISLAMABAD: Edotco Group, one of Asia’s leading tower companies, announced to invest $1 billion for its expansion in Pakistan by acquiring 13,000 telecom towers of Jazz, which would create hundreds of job opportunities, the company said.
It was announced by edotco Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Suresh Sidhu and edotco Pakistan Country Managing Director & CEO Arif Hussain while addressing a media session to discuss edotco’s plans for the local telecom industry.
They discussed the barriers which needed to be overcome and the role regulators had to play in facilitating further growth.
Ibrahim group of Pakistan will have 45 percent share in the new investment, said Sidhu, adding that edotco Pakistan was established in 2014 as a subsidiary of edotco group with the objective to provide communications infrastructure services to customers; and be the one stop centre for telecommunication sites and bandwidth services in Pakistan.
Edotco has 700 telecom towers in Pakistan and are in final process to acquire 13,000 more in coming days, he said, adding that the group had already acquired a no objection certificate from the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) while no objection certificate from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was being awaited. The CEO further claimed that most of the other regulations related to the State Bank of Pakistan and other concerned departments had been fulfilled.
Based out of Malaysia, and present in six Asian countries, edotco Group sees Pakistan as the frontier for developing Asian markets, he said. With a youth bulge and potential for exponential growth, edotco had marked its operations in Pakistan as its crown jewel for years to come, the CEO added.
He further said that edotco had planned extensive investment in the region on infrastructure upgradation, new infrastructure development, human resource development, and environmental rehabilitation. Edotco plans to become a top 5 towerco in the world by 2020 through progressive investment in industry, provision of a broad portfolio of infrastructure solutions and value-added services to enhance efficiencies and connectivity for communities, said Sidhu.
Sidhu said edotco owned/operated and managed 26,000 towers in six countries. The group acquired the license to operate in Pakistan in 2015. Edotco minimises the energy cost by adopting renewable and green energy solutions and system optimization; enhance operational efficiency through sharing of resources and processes, he said.
He further said that Pakistan had a huge market potential with 200 million population, 73 percent mobile penetration, 5 percent projected inflation and 5.7 percent GDP growth. Furthermore, the country had 40,000 towers, highly favourable tele-infra regulatory conditions, backed by timely policy reforms and continued investment commitment from telcos backed by foreign shareholders, said Sidhu.
Edotco officials said that low mobile penetration and significant growth was expected in mobile data utilisation and demand for capacity infill. They said that Pakistan had unique specifics as tower infrastructure license was unrestricted which presented competitive advantage for edotco.
Published in Daily Times, November 8th 2017.
