Telecommunications tower company (towerco) Edotco Group is looking into expanding its operation to Thailand and Vietnam in the near term as the markets offer untapped growth opportunities.
Edotco chief executive officer Adlan Tajudin said the group prioritises prudent portfolio expansion for both organic and inorganic opportunities that carry the right scale, economics, and returns for its shareholders.
"We have successfully built our portfolio from 10,000 towers in four home markets to more than 50,000 towers in nine markets in just over eight years.
"Currently, Edotco’s target markets are in the Asean region and South Asia," he told Bernama in an interview.
At present, the group operates beyond the borders of Malaysia, establishing a regional portfolio of over 54,000 towers across Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Laos.
This includes its latest acquisitions from strategic deals and mergers with Touch Mindscape Sdn Bhd, XL Axiata Towers in Indonesia, and PLDT in the Philippines.
Rebranding initiative after a decade
Since its establishment in 2012, Edotco has come a long way over the past decade, achieving many milestones, including attaining Asean Unicorn status and becoming Asia’s first and leading regional integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company.
"Ultimately, we have made it our mission to become a top five global telecommunications tower company by 2024. Edotco is currently sixth," said Adlan.
He noted that the towerco has undergone a rebranding initiative recently, providing an opportunity to reflect on everything that the Edotco brand stands for and everything that it aspires into an exciting future.
"Our mission is a refined version of what is best about ourselves: to make next-generation connectivity universally accessible, in order to help nations and societies across Asia transform digitally, economically and socially.
"As such, we have also moved to our new global headquarters, Laman Edotco, since Nov 1, 2022, to accommodate expanding operations.
"This move also enables the consolidation of the group’s Klang Valley offices into one central location for improved efficiency and productivity," he said.
Infrastructure business outlook
Adlan highlighted that the development of the telecommunication sector has accelerated with the simultaneous birth of 5G technologies.
He said the increasing importance and demand for mobile broadband connectivity has opened a new horizon of opportunities to towercos to help mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide wider coverage and better quality of service (QoS) to mobile users, and at the same time help governments to achieve their digitalisation national aspiration.
"To realise the new role of towercos to accelerate mobile broadband connectivity, there are two critical factors that need to take place as an action call for towercos -- the need to be internally prepared to serve MNOs and a regulatory framework that addresses the towerco existence and role.
"Furthermore, the transition to 5G network, demand for wider and better coverage and QoS-induced proliferation of 4G network have made towercos' role more crucial than ever, making it even pressed for a regulatory framework reform," he added.
Source: https://www.bernama.com/en/business/news.php?id=2150140