After selling 931 towers to IHS Africa for $151.5m to IHS Africa at the end of 2012, MTN’s long awaited 3G network is launching in Abidjan. Third ranked operator Moov Cote d’Ivoire is also rolling out 3G with the help of Ericsson. Moov’s rollout began in October 2012 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. MTN and Moov are playing catchup on rival Orange Cote d’Ivoire, who launched 3G in April 2012.

How RMS identifies investments that will slash your energy and maintenance costs

New licenses, acquisitions and upgrades in brief

IHS, Africa’s largest independent infrastructure tower company by number of towers managed, has won the Middle East & Africa Deal of the Year Award at the TelecomFinance Awards held in London on 30 January 2013

Maintenance costs can represent half of power opex, which in itself is usually the single largest network operating cost.

Keeping the network on the air makes it easier to sell co-locations

…and what the tower industry should do to create new value by leveraging reduced fuel consumption and providing fibre to the tower

TowerXchange starts a long journey to profile proven innovative equipment and managed service providers to Africa’s telecoms infrastructure community, interviewing senior executives at companies with a demonstrable track record of saving energy and maintenance opex, and optimising rollout and retrofit capex.

A closer look at site design to minimise opex: choosing the right generator, shelter, air conditioning, outdoor equipment and RMS

Dependence on costly diesel generator power and regulations encourage infrastructure sharing in Uganda, according to analysts at BuddeComm

Pedro Rabacal, Network Officer, International at Vodacom succinctly summarises the investment dilemma facing many operators as they consider whether to invest in shareability

...with a high tenancy ratio in Uganda