The signing of a formal agreement between Pan African Towers Limited, a telecoms infrastructure and wireless service provider, and Watts Renewable, Canadian-based energy solution experts, marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s telecoms industry, as the synergy sets to revolutionise service delivery, drive broadband penetration and promote financial inclusion in Nigeria.
In the formal signing at the weekend in Lagos, and graced by partners of both parties, Pan African Towers and Watts Renewable announced an Infrastructure Investment Partnership worth N7.2 billion at the initial phase of implementation, which takes off in Northern Nigeria.
The partnership entails Pan African Towers leveraging Watts Renewable’s green solutions to power its sites instead of relying on diesel-powered conventional generators, thus ensuring environmental sustainability while solving its energy problem.
According to Wole Abu, CEO of Pan African Towers, the formal signing signifies a landmark in the journey of innovation and would significantly improve the quality of service delivery in the telecom space.
‘’Seventy percent at the backend of drop cost can be traced to power disruptions,’’ Abu said, explaining that power requires a huge investment in terms of capital expenditure, operating expense, man-hours, troubleshooting and the likes.
‘’When you stabilise your power, you have eliminated seventy percent of the root causes of service disruption.’’
The overall benefit to be realised from the venture extends beyond cost-savings gain for Pan African Towers and the trickle-down effect on mobile phone users who would see a turnaround in the availability of service for calls and data, as there would be a direct impact on the local communities where these facilities would be situated, he said.
“Beyond serving the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) we are going to promote education, agriculture, entrepreneurship, provide support for businesses and drive the Nigerian dream in the rural Communities where we are found,” Abu said.
Asides large enterprises, about 90 percent of businesses in Nigeria, which fall into the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) category, are largely dependent on telecoms and power infrastructure to thrive.
At the event, Oluwole Eweje, chief operating officer/founder of Watt Renewable, explained, “Green energy remains the way to go for Nigerian businesses as it is both a cheaper alternative and ensures commercial activities do not adversely affect the environment.”
With Watts Renewable bringing the N7.2 billion investment as infrastructure partner, Pan African Towers looks to focus its resources on passive tower sharing, driving innovative in another aspect of the telecommunications business and expanding their presence.
“We are looking to double the number of towers we manage here in Nigeria before year’s end and exploit opportunities in Ghana where we already have footprints,” the visibly excited Pan African Towers CEO told Businessday.
Pan African Towers’ client base includes MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9Mobile, Spectranet, Smile, and ICSL to mention a few.
“Our name was not chosen in error, we have plans for an African expansion,” Abu said.
