Tower One deploys new sites for carriers in Colombia, Ecuador

Canada-based firm Tower One Wireless deployed 13 new sites in Colombia and Ecuador in February, five more than in February 2022 and the same amount as delivered in January, according to the company’s construction reports.

Of the new towers, 12 were in Colombia and one was in Ecuador. With the new deployments, Tower One said it ended the month with 374 towers in its core markets of Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, with 412 tenants for those sites. 

Tenants refer to the number of customer leases per tower. One customer leasing space in five towers counts as five tenants.

In Colombia, the towers were deployed in different locations in Unguia, Nuqui, Bajo Baudo, Certegui, Novita, Jurado, and Alto Baudo, all in Chocó department, while towers were also built in Ituango and Venecia (Antioquia), as well as in Centelsa (Valle del Cauca).

The Ecuadoran site was deployed in Guayaquil, capital of Guayas province.

All sites except for the ones in Guayaquil and Centelsa were in rural areas. As is standard, the towers have a 10-year rental period and are greenfield projects. 

The company's main clients are Telefónica, which is a tenant for roughly 38% of its sites, WOM Colombia (31%), Millicom’s Tigo Colombia (24%), Mexico’s Altán Redes (4%), Claro Colombia (3%) and DirecTV Colombia (1%). 

Other clients include AT&T in Mexico and CNT in Ecuador.

All these towers involve the build-to-suit (BTS) model, which means constructing the towers after a long-term leasing contract is signed with a mobile carrier.  

The group also said that seven towers were completed in February under the construction-as-a-service vertical, which is when the company makes the structure available prior to demand and signing contracts. In this case, all sites were finished in Colombia.