Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director for SBA Communications, is based in Guatemala and has spoken to TowerXchange about the local tower industry, its dynamics and which growth perspectives SBA has in the country.
TowerXchange: Please introduce yourself and your role at SBA Communications.
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
I have been in the telecom industry for the last eighteen years, focusing on Central America. For the past six years, I have worked for SBA Communications where I am in charge of multiple countries in Central and South America. Currently I am based in Guatemala City.
TowerXchange: Please give us some context on the tower industry in Guatemala. What are the competitive dynamics among MNOs and indeed among the country’s three towercos? How would you characterise the regulatory environment?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
SBA has been doing business in Guatemala for the last six years. The tower industry is competitive and it’s incentivised by a stable socio-economic environment, as well as the demand for the latest generation data services and smartphones. Currently there are two other competitors in the market, but both are much smaller.
Guatemala has a fairly strong regulatory environment, with diverse initiatives from the authorities to establish a clear framework to build and operate towers, which is attractive for the network operators and towercos too.
TowerXchange: What are the main demand drivers in Guatemala, both for new builds and for co-location?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
We believe that opportunities for new builds and co-locations are driven mainly by the carriers rising demand for 3G data services, and also moving forward with 4G networks. There is a huge need for capacity sites at the main cities and busy suburban areas. In certain areas, coverage sites continue to be built as well. Site growth has been strong over the past few years and carriers are still pushing hard.
TowerXchange: What are the main operational challenges you face building and maintaining towers in Guatemala?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
Building sites at Guatemala can be very challenging. The team must know the various communities and follow up closely with the different authorities to make sure the sites are built timely and with all the permits required.
There are local community groups called COCODES which have a big say in whether or not a site gets local approvals. From an operations perspective, there are good reliable contractors we use at our sites in addition to our own employees. Labor costs are good and work quality is high. There is some vandalism but it can be controlled. There are also some security issues in certain areas that people visiting the sites must beware of. For SBA, our large scale helps to control our costs in Guatemala. With a dense footprint of 600+ sites we have been able to create a maintenance plan that is very cost effective.
TowerXchange: What is SBA’s footprint in Guatemala, how did you acquire the portfolio and how is it growing?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
We own and operate more than 600 sites with nationwide coverage, in urban, suburban and rural areas.
In 2011, SBA entered the market through an acquisition from Telefónica. In 2012, SBA acquired Mobilitie in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and since then we have been growing our portfolio with over 150 BTS sites completed, and many more co-locations.
TowerXchange: Having acquired the majority of Telefónica’s towers, what are the prospects of Claro’s or Tigo’s towers coming to market, given the preferences of both organisations to retain towers and retain control?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
With Claro and Tigo in Guatemala, we have been focusing on co-locations. These two carriers prefer to continue to build and own towers but they both have been good co-locators on our sites, both old and new ones.
TowerXchange: How would you contrast the market and the opportunity within SBA’s five Central American operations?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
Guatemala brings a lot of scale to SBA in the Central America region. Claro and Telefónica have regional headquarters here as well, so it is a hub market for them. We also have local offices in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, that give us the ability to properly serve our regional and local customers in each market. This provides a lot of benefits in terms of standardised management, operations and processes across our organisation.
TowerXchange: Have you seen much appetite for microcells, small cells, IBS and DAS across Central America?
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
Somewhat, but most small cells here take the form of short macro sites. We have done some small poles in certain core areas, but have found that low rooftops and short towers, with high capacity macro equipment on them, are still the biggest part of the carrier’s designs. DAS opportunities are very limited, most areas can be properly served by more cost effective macro sites. Sometimes carriers will self-deploy limited in-building solutions for key corporate clients but most facilities can be handled by macro cells nearby.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up your three to five year vision for the Guatemala tower market.
Ricardo Ruiz, International Operations Director, SBA Communications:
We believe that carriers’ networks will continue to grow, especially as the region catches up with smartphones and data services penetration. SBA is focused on continuous growth in Guatemala and the rest of Central America, but also focused on running our existing portfolio efficiently. We expect to continue to build and buy towers and other sites here for the foreseeable future.
