Telecommunications infrastructure company, edotco Group Sdn Bhd officially launched its operations in Myanmar last week.
edotco has partnered with Singapore based Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd for the operations in Myanmar and plans to invest US$200 million over the next five years, with the aim to build and own up to 5,000 towers over the next three years.
According to edotco, entering Myanmar will allow the company to:
- Serve as a strategic partner in the growth of Myanmar’s telecommunications industry, ultimately contributing to the nation building of Myanmar.
- Extend its regional expertise in end-to-end solutions in tower services into Myanmar, including its best-in-class echo centre.
- Stimulate the rapid development and enhancement of telecoms infrastructure, by delivering real and transparent operational improvement.
- Benefit from the huge growth potential of the Tower market in Myanmar, which is expected to grow from current ~7.9k towers to ~29k towers by 2024.
In October 2015, Jamacia-based telecoms operator Digicel sold its majority shareholding in Myanmar Tower Company (MTC), about 75%, to edotco Group. MTC is a subsidiary of Digicel Asian Holdings Pte Ltd. The remaining 25% stake in Digicel Asian Holdings Pte Ltd is held by Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd.
MTC was established in January 2014 and is one of the leading player in the Myanmar’s telecommunication tower industry. It has about 1,250 telecommunication towers in Myanmar.
According to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) of Myanmar, mobile penetration has grown to 55% as at the end of March 2015 from 33% in 2014. The industry is expected to continue to grow rapidly as MCIT requires the network operators to expand the country’s network coverage to 70% by 2017 and 95% by 2020.
edotco Group Chief Executive Officer, Suresh Sidhu, said in statement, “Through edotco Myanmar, we are committed to enabling connectivity in the country; delivering reliable and superior network service to end users through the deployment and effective management of passive telecoms infrastructure.
“We are excited to be a part of the development of Myanmar’s telecoms industry and to contribute to the country’s progress by sharing our international best practice and operational excellence expertise. With our extensive experience and successes in empowering communications in a number of developing Asian countries, edotco is best-placed to serve as a strategic partner to Myanmar, its economy and its people.”
Part of the Axiata Group and first set up in 2013, edotco owns and manages the Axiata group of companies passive network infrastructure assets. Among the Telcos that Axiata owns include Celcom Axiata in Malaysia and Smart Axiata in Cambodia. Other Axiata subsidiaries include PT XL Axiata in Indonesia, Tune Talk in Malaysia, M1 in Singapore, Idea Cellular in India, & others.
edotco provides end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector including co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance (O&M) in the region of Asia. It has a portfolio of over 16,200 towers in its countries of operation: Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and now Myanmar.
