Helios Towers is in talks with mobile network operators (MNOs) in SA about providing power-as-a-service to its sites in the country, says CEO Tom Greenwood.
This, as the independent telecoms infrastructure company looks to alleviate load-shedding’s detrimental impact on network infrastructure.
South African MNOs have decried the effects of rolling blackouts on network quality and infrastructure.
Network towers and base stations often shut down during power cuts, resulting in poor connectivity, or even complete network outages, disrupting phone calls and internet connectivity.
Speaking to ITWeb following the release of the company’s results for the year to 31 December, Greenwood said Helios offers power-as-a-service in all of its other markets, except South Africa.
Historically, tower companies have not offered power in SA, as mobile network operators did not need it because they were plugged into the grid 24/7, he explained.
However, with Eskom’s worsening circumstances and the resultant power crisis in recent years, he believes such an offering is increasingly required.
“This would provide 24/7 uninterrupted power. We are talking to mobile operators about it. We need to come to commercial arrangements about it, but we really hope to start doing that soon with our customers in South Africa.
“At the moment, it’s highly frustrating for everyone. We really want to help out as much as we can, and we’ll be going on that soon.”
Electricity shortages have plagued SA since late 2007, but escalated in recent years, with the country experiencing worsening, lengthy power blackouts.
Record levels of load-shedding were experienced in 2022, with 207 days of rolling blackouts, compared to 75 days in 2021.
The power crisis has become so severe that power utility Eskom has implemented around the clock power cuts – with South Africans already juggling an average of two to four hours of load-shedding every day in 2023.
African expansion
Helios owns and operates more than 13 500 telecoms tower sites in eight African markets and one in the Middle East: Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Madagascar, Malawi and Oman.
In SA, the company has been operational since 2019.
Greenwood noted the country is the smallest market out of all nine covered by Helios, but continues to grow through build-to-suite, co-location, small acquisitions and new products.
“We’re now doing products other than towers, including in-building solutions and small edge data centres in SA, to support the mobile network operators as they push for better connectivity, 5G and fibre.
“South Africa is a very exciting market for us. In part, it’s because it’s very advanced when it comes to 5G technology versus some of our other markets. Therefore, it’s a good place for us to launch new products and take them elsewhere.”
Overall, Greenwood said Helios is witnessing strong tower demand across all its markets, right from SA through to the rest of the continent.
“We’re building sites right now…for those markets. In our new Middle East market Oman, we’re also seeing really good demand. We see general demand for this new coverage requirement across all markets.”
The telecoms sector is also seeing a rise in interest around new technology being used on the active network site, he noted. “Mobile operators moving from 4G to 5G, for example; we’re seeing this in some markets, including South Africa, Tanzania and Oman.”
There’s also a trend on the power side. “We’re effectively a power business as well. We provide power at every site, and we’re looking for alternative ways to do that, which reduce carbon emissions and provide a more sustainable power level at sites.
“This can include hybrid batteries, solar and also wind power; we’re trialling it this year. Hopefully, we’ll see more of that being rolled out over the coming years.”
Expansion expectations
For the 2022 financial year, Helios reported 25% revenue growth and 18% growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Furthermore, the company closed two large acquisitions, in Malawi and Oman.
The company completed its acquisition and market expansion plans by the end of 2022, said Greenwood. “This means we’re going into 2023 with nine markets and nearly 14 000 towers.
“We’ve roughly doubled the size of business in the past two years. We’ve given very clear guidance on our expectations for 2023, which includes 26% EBITDA growth.
“This also means our capex is coming down significantly and we’re really focused on driving the increased tenancies on our sites and increased return through the year. We’ve already got a large pipeline order book for sales this year. We’re feeling fairly strong about our performance prospects for 2023.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said the company is “super-focused” on organic growth and driving cash flows.
“Organic growth for us means in-building sites, putting more tenants on existing sites, rolling out new products, driving operational efficiencies across our portfolio.
“Organic growth is focused on expanding our mobile network operator customers’ network coverage and capacity, and increasing the technology they’re using. For example, helping them move from 2G to 3G, 4G and 5G. This is something that we support our customers doing and is one of our organic revenue streams.
“We’re very confident and bullish for this year. We’ve got a strong order book in hand already for this year. We’re seeing good tenancy rollout through Q1 so far, which is great to see, and we’ve got good prospects for the following quarter as well.
“We’re feeling that the business is really performing quite well at the moment.”
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