What happened this month in APAC Towers? (February 2023 news roundup)

TowerXchange had a busy February, capped off with a great trip to Mobile World Congress. We marked the return of our CXO Networking Dinner at the event, and had the pleasure to present an overview of the state of the industry in the GSMA Tower and Fibre Forum.

The APAC tower market has had a busy February as well! Indonesia's latest sale and leaseback marks the end of an era with no more towers left with MNOs. Japan made progress at the other end of the spectrum, with JTower inherriting 555 towers from NTT and disclosing their financing plan for the next 5,500.

And could Thailand be the next market to see a sale and leaseback? Rumours that AIS are plotting a 22,000 towers sale certainly suggest so! Remember to check out our global news roundup over on TowerXchange's website and enjoy the latest news across APAC towers:

Bangladesh: Teletalk, Banglalink and Summit sign three-way infrastructure sharing deal?

Veon-owned Banglalink and state-owned Teletalk have signed an agreement for the two MNOs to share infrastructure, with independent towerco Summit Towers taking responsibility for technical support. It is not clear which sites the deal includes, but according to TowerXchange data Bangalink own 6,200 towers and Teletalk own 3,500 macro sites. “As the tower operator, we shall make our best efforts to ensure tower-sharing services for the mobile network operators” Summit Towers CEO Md Arif Al Islam clarified.?

India: Bharti Airtel increases direct stake in Indus Towers?

By acquiring the shares of its subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure, Indian MNO Bharti Airtel has increased its direct holding in Indus tower to 47.95%. Bharti previously increased its shareholding in India’s largest towerco last year, when it bought part of Vodafone Idea’s stake. Vi itself has had the go ahead to proceed with an equity deal with the Indian government, which will see the state own 33% of the operator.??

Indonesia: Mitratel buy IOH towers?

Mitratel have purchased the remaining towers from sister company Telkomsel’s freshly merged competitors Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson. Indonesia’s largest towerco added another 997 sites to its portfolio as part of the deal. The sale and leaseback had been attracting attention for the fact that in-building equipment was also included, although IOH opted to separate the assets, selling 633 IBS sites to dhost. In total the combined deals raised IOH a $US117mn.??

Japan: NTT transfer first batch of towers to JTower?

After a deal in March 2022 was reached for JTower to be transferred 6,002 towers was announced, the first batch of 555 towers have now been transferred. In their Q3 2022 results, JTower revealed they had secured 90% of the funding required to buy the assets, with a plan for the remaining 10% to still be disclosed. The financing includes externally raised capital from MUFG, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and JA Mitsui Leasing. The full value of the assets is approximately $US870mn, which represents US$144,952 per tower.??

Philippines: Globe exceeds rollout targets, but 2023 could be a slower year?

Globe Telecom reported it exceeded its targets for network rollout for 2022 by building 2,267 new 5G sites and connecting 1,702 new cell sites. The operator also upgraded more than 13,600 mobile sites to 4G LTE, but TowerXchange understands that its BTS orders for 2023 could be lower than previous years. Having completed sale and leaseback processes in 2022, the operator is expected to review the new co-location potential on towerco built and bought towers, before committing the same number of sites as it did in previous years.?

Thailand: AIS plotting 22,000 tower SLB???

Rumours have been swirling in the market that AIS has held talks with potential advisers for a strategic review of its assets, which could fetch the MNO between US$2-3bn. In August 2021, head of investor relations Nattiya Paopongsakorn, said AIS was studying the prospect of raising funds by spinning off its telecom towers and other assets. This would fall in line with shareholder Singtel’s review of its infrastructure assets across its portfolio as it seeks to take an “asset-light approach.” Local power provide Gulf Energy took a hefty 23% stake in parent company Intouch in 2021, and could see a tower sale as a potential to recoup their investment.

?To find out more about the Thai market check out TowerXchange's guide to the telecom tower market of Thailand . Membership is free for MNOs and Towercos for unlimited access.