Thank you to all the key stakeholders in African towers who made the TowerXchange Meetup 2013 such a success!
TowerXchange were pleased to host a gathering of 170 of the top decision makers in African towers for this unique two-day networking retreat. The networking opportunities offered by our round table sessions were particularly popular, with each round table structured to create a complete tower industry ecosystem, with towercos, operators, investors, equipment and service providers all represented.
The TowerXchange Meetup proved to be a uniquely interactive event, hence our decision to invite only Director to C-level delegates to attend. No sales pitches were permitted at the round tables, enabling conversation to be kept at a strategic level, with the Chatham House Rule protecting confidentiality and enabling a forthright exchange of views.
We’ll report on some of the round tables in this and future editions of the TowerXchange Journal, but the only way to benefit from the unique learning and networking opportunities is to attend, so if you didn’t join us this year, please make a note in your diary to join us at the next TowerXchange Meetup Africa on September 30 and October 1 2014!
TowerXchange is a Meetup not a Conference - driven by small group interactions. But we did feature a few presentations and panel sessions to put the round tables in context. You’ll see a preview of the operator keynote panel in TowerXchange Journal #5 - you can click here to download back issues free.
meetup-audience-breakdown-2013
TowerXchange opened the Meetup with our own forecast that a further 31,500 towers would transfer from operator-captive to independent towerco owned or operated in the next five quarters. Today 15% of Africa’s towers (23,000) are owned or operated by towercos. We forecast that proportion to climb to 30% over the next year, requiring over US$2bn of acquisition capital. The prevailing opinion was that investors had sufficient appetite for the proven cash flows generated by African towers to fund the transactions, but the main challenge for towercos remains finding and training enough ‘Tower People’ - management with knowledge and experience of the tower industry and of African telecoms. TowerXchange also shared our views on the ten countries most likely to see a tower transaction in the next year, an insight we’ll restrict to those who attended the event (the slides are on your Acsys-branded pen drive, in case you haven’t found them!)
In the many private meeting areas, deals were made, new contacts were established and old relationships were deepened. Delegates enjoyed live demonstrations and C-level dialogues with a hand-picked group of the top 26 equipment and service providers participating in TowerXchange’s curated exhibition. We’re delighted to have received excellent feedback from all our exhibitors, and we’re delighted to have already rebooked 74% of our sponsors and exhibitors to repeat their participation in the TowerXchange Meetup Africa 2014. Meanwhile, we continued several strategic dialogues helping us prepare to extend TowerXchange’s footprint into South and Central Americas, Southeast Asia, Russia and the CIS.
Our take-aways for 2014: more round tables, more exhibit space in an upgraded facility, and more of the same please! The TowerXchange Meetup promised and delivered a uniquely targeted networking forum bringing together empowered buyers and proven suppliers to emerging market tower industry. It wouldn’t have worked without your participation, so thanks once again to our delegates, and we look forward to seeing you again at the TowerXchange Meetup Africa 2014!
The verdict of our sponsors, exhibitors and delegates
Even if, through my role managing the passive infrastructure sharing projects within Orange AMEA, I have met and am working with the management teams of all the African towercos, TowerXchange offers the possibility to share information outside the usual business process and relationships. In addition, it brings aggregated information related to the subject, and also provides a thorough and independent view of all key suppliers of technical solutions such as energy, remote supervision and security. I share the bi-monthly TowerXchange Journal with my team and the Program Steerco. TowerXchange has also had a good idea to organize a two day Meetup in October where the 200 towercos executives meet and participate to round tables mixing operators, such as me, with towercos, bankers, consultants and vendors. It was the right format in terms of duration as well in the number of participants. - Michel Faivre, Directeur Programme Partage d’Infrastructure AMEA, Orange
As the leading independent towerco in Africa, Helios Towers Africa are delighted to be the Diamond Sponsors of TowerXchange. Kieron and his team are providing an important information service to the emerging market tower industry by sharing news, independent analysis and best practices through the TowerXchange Journal, and by bringing together the leading decision makers at the TowerXchange Meetup - an invaluable networking and knowledge sharing event focused specifically on the industry dynamics among tower companies, their customers and suppliers. As market leaders, we look forward to continuing to share our expertise and experiences through TowerXchange. - Chuck Green, CEO, Helios Towers Africa
I had a great time and found the TowerXchange Meetup to be a very useful opportunity to reconnect with old friends and meet new potential business partners in the tower industry. The round table sessions were particularly useful for networking and sharing best practices. - Fazal Hussain, CEO, SWAP International
It was great to meet with almost all of the main executives of the different tower companies in Africa. The TowerXchange gave us a unique forum to share experiences and knowledge with one another, and interact with the finance and the legal communities who work with the tower companies. - David Porte, VP International, SBA Communications
Very well done on the Towerxchange Meet-up. It was well constructed and valuable. Look forward to next time. - Nathan Foster, CEO, Atlas Tower
I would like to congratulate you on a good conference. The round table discussions were very interesting - everyone contributed well. Generally speaking it has been a long time since we have had anything so relevant to our market and we look forward to supporting you in the future - Gary Staunton, CEO, Likusasa
I have attended many of these such events and a lot have been absolutely unproductive. But I can’t say the same about the TowerXchange event. The format was very conducive for both networking and knowledge sharing, and in particular the quality of the attendees was superb. All key people who matter were there. - Norman Moyo, CEO, Helios Towers Tanzania
