Telecommunications tower manager Helios Towers is very interested in the Ethiopian telecom market, which is opening its doors to foreign investors.

The company estimates that over the next three to five years, the business should be profitable in light of the need for telecom towers to extend network coverage across the country. Helios Towers, which estimates that Ethiopia’s demand for telecommunications towers will reach 10,000 units, estimates that it will need to invest 1.5 billion USD.

In an interview with Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter, Kash Pandya, Chairman and CEO of Helios Towers, stressed that the telecom company has no intention of participating in the ongoing privatization of the telecommunications sector bidding for a business license in Ethiopia, but wishes to acquire existing towers, if Ethio-Telecom intends to sell them.

Tom Greenwood, the company’s CFO, added that his ambition is to become a major player in the development of passive telecommunications infrastructure in Ethiopia.

With interests in Ghana, Tanzania, DR Congo, Congo and South Africa, Helios Towers currently holds more than 7,000 telecom towers on the continent. Currently, there are about 8,000 telecommunications towers in Ethiopia.

For Betram Dreyer, the representative of the German Investment Corporation (DEG), the head of the telecoms infrastructure department for KfW, the telecom tower managers who will engage in Ethiopia will have to solve the issues of access to access to electricity, security and repatriation of foreign currency.

Source: Agence Ecofin