AC&M: Russia becomes 6th biggest market by cell towers number

MOSCOW, Sep 1 (PRIME) -- Russia has become the sixth world’s largest market by the number of high-rise structures for mobile connection base stations, leaving behind Germany, France, the U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and Canada, researcher Advanced Communications & Media (AC&M) said on Friday in a report.

The number of the facilities, including poles, masts, and towers – counting some 68,000 units as of July 1 – rises 4% per year, while independent infrastructure companies expand their parks by 13% per year and mobile operators only by 1%.

“Unlike other countries, where mobile operators sold dozen of thousands of antenna mast facilities to independent infrastructure operators and rent them out to put their own equipment, most of the towers on the Russian market still belong to connection operators, while independent infrastructure companies hold only 11% of the facilities,” AC&M said.

Multi-year efforts of mobile operators VimpelCom and T2 RTK Holding to find buyers for their towers have failed. The local market could not see a large-scale deal at all, because sellers and buyers find it more difficult to come to terms about the fair price of assets.

Independent infrastructure companies will gradually occupy a bigger share of the market thanks to organic growth, the researcher said.

Demand for high facilities will multiply after 2022 with the start of 5G unrolling.

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