8ta to sign agreement with ATC?
MyBroadband BusinessTech has received information from a well-placed source that Telkom’s mobile arm, 8ta, is close to concluding a tower sharing agreement with American Tower Corporation (ATC).
ATC owns and operates wireless and broadcast communications sites, renting the sites out to telecoms operators to serve their wireless needs.
In 2011 ATC concluded a deal with SA operator, Cell C, where it acquired a large portion of the cellular operator’s towers – with Cell C becoming an anchor tenant.
An agreement with ATC could potentially have a positive impact on the speed of 8ta’s network expansion.
The process of receiving the necessary permissions to build towers and backhaul networks is one of the biggest factors in slowing down network growth. An ATC-8ta partnership would remove this hurdle and allow for rapid footprint expansion for 8ta.
8ta did not directly confirm that they are close to an agreement with ATC, but the group said that they view co-location, or mobile infrastructure sharing, as an appropriate alternative that can contribute significantly to lowering the cost of network deployment.
“As such, the company continually explores opportunities to co-locate however possible in the various areas in which it seeks to expand its footprint,” 8ta said.
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