Egypt Digital Company for Investment (EDCI ), the top shareholder in Egypt Towers for Technology Services Company, has signed an agreement with IHS Towers to obtain a licence from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) to erect and lease telecom towers, says a report in Developing Telecoms.
IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world. IHS Towers will own 80 per cent of IHS Telecom Towers Egypt S.A.E., and Egypt Digital Company for Investment will own the remaining 20%. The new consortium is in the process of becoming licensed by NTRA, the procedures for which are expected to be completed during this week.
The Egyptian Ministry of Communications has said that the partnership plan to construct 6,000 licensed wireless communication towers in the next three years through IHS Towers is best executed through this agreement. The license also allows or the acquisition and requisition of wireless telco towers owned by third parties for providing the services specified by the license.
IHS Towers is committed to delivering critical telco infrastructure to the emerging markets, said IHS Towers CEO Sam Darwish. “This partnership is an exciting development [and] I am confident [we can] support the rapidly developing Egyptian telco market.” Partnering with EDCI will allow IHS to exploit its ‘extensive market knowledge’ and capitalise on its inventive operating skills in order to create an Egyptian feast of features, options and solutions or telecoms users, according to Darwish.