TowerXchange estimate there to be a little over three and a quarter million telecom towers in the world, of which 61.1% are now owned and operated by towercos.
The transformation of the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem began in the U.S. in the mid nineties, where the independent towerco model has thrived. We estimate 82% of US towers are now towerco owned, as well as 80% of the country’s neutral host DAS and small cell nodes. The success of the towerco business model in the U.S. spilled into Southern and Central America, where towercos own 44% of the region’s towers, while the same philosophy drove towerco penetration in SSA from <1% in 2009 to 40% today – representing the majority of the investible towers in both markets.
Meanwhile, a different philosophy initially drove the Asian tower industry. Carve-out, operator captive towercos are built on economic models more favorable to MNOs - for example, the Indian tower industry, ostensibly inaugurated in 2007-8, has a standard lease rate of around US$600, with discounts applied as additional tenants are added. 68% of India’s ~450,000 towers are in the hands of towercos, a figure TowerXchange forecasts to rise to 85% in the year, driven by the carve-out of BSNL’s towers.
China hosts the world’s largest and newest tower industry. But while the creation of China Tower Company (CTC), which owns more towers than the rest of the global tower industry combined, may make the headlines, TowerXchange are equally interested by the growing independent towerco market in China, which controls around 20,000 towers and which could be both supplier and feeder to CTC.
Towercos now own 61.1% of the world’s towers
Comparing towerco penetration worldwide
Meanwhile, Europe could develop its own tower business model incorporating as much decommissioning as new build, and perhaps one day as many micro cells as as macro cells. Is a towerco still a towerco if it manages active equipment too? Is it a pureplay towerco if as much revenue comes from TV and radio tenants as telecoms? Is it still a towerco if it’s owned by one or more operators? Crucially, is it as investible? We’ll search for some of the answers at our next event: we hope you’ll join us, and 200 other European tower industry pioneers, at the TowerXchange Meetup Europe in London on April 12 and 13!
Recommended further reading: TowerXchange’s detailed analyses of the tower markets in the Americas, Asia, Europe and MEA.
