Engro Corporation (PSX: ENGRO) announced that it would increase its total equity investment of PKR 7.5 billion in the Telecom Infrastructure vertical to PKR 21.5 billion.
Engro has also formed a dedicated platform for connectivity and telecom infrastructure-related initiatives like Engro Connect (Pvt.) Limited (E-Connect). E-Connect will hold complete ownership of Engro Enfrashare (E-Enfrashare), which is the country’s largest independent telecom tower firm in terms of active towers.
The total equity injection of PKR 21.5 billion in E-Connect will be mainly utilized to expand the Build-to-Suite (BTS) tower business under E-Enfrashare, including the provision of efficient energy solutions, modernization of operations, installation of state-of-the-art network monitoring solutions, etc.
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The total equity injection of PKR 21.5 billion in Engro Connect will be mainly utilized to expand the Build-to-Suite (BTS) tower business under Engro Enfrashare including but not limited to provision of efficient energy solutions. #ENablingGROwth #Engro #EConnect #Connectivity pic.twitter.com/KVtXgKPXiK
— Engro Corporation (@engrocorp) August 26, 2021
E-Enfrashare has over 1,800 operational sites with a base of 1,963 tenants and has framework agreements in place with all four mobile network operators (MNOs). “Engro envisages making E-Enfrashare a 5,000 BTS (build-to-suit) tower company by 2025,” it added.
Ghias Khan
President & CEO of Engro Corporation
“We believe that robust connectivity initiatives and best-in-class telecom infrastructure are the need of the hour for the country as the world is now moving swiftly towards digitalization and infrastructure sharing. While being focused on Engro’s purpose of solving some of Pakistan’s most pressing issues, we would utilize our considerable balance sheet and quality human capital to support our MNOs in their passive infrastructure requirements while creating an ecosystem for the deployment of next-generation networks.”
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The latest financial accounts of Engro Corp state the business outlook for E-Enfrashare is strong partly on the back of “stagnant revenue growth for MNOs,” which will provide the impetus for their cost optimization initiatives such as tower sharing and co-location opportunities.
The telecom sector in Pakistan has a 3G / 4G subscriber base expanding beyond 100 million and registering an annual growth of 28%. With such strong development, E-Enfrashare and its tower infrastructure will be a critical enabler for the MNOs to expand their networks while ensuring the quality of services.