edotco’s white paper calls on towercos to be nimble, well capitalised 

Image by https://edotcogroup.com

By ANIS FARHANAH MALEK
anisfarhanah@dagangnews.com

KUALA LUMPUR 11 June - edotco Group today released a white paper highlighting the need for telecommunications infrastructure companies (towercos) to be nimble and well capitalised to facilitate national economic and social developments. 

In a statement, the group said that the stakes for information and communications technology (ICT) deployment and usage have increased as commerce, work, and learning have become more reliant on them following the COVID- 19 pandemic.

“The industry has evolved. Traditionally, towercos focused on coverage but have now taken on the crucial need to fulfil demand for additional capacity as well. 

“National Digital Agendas call for robust 4G and 5G infrastructure networks with complex multi-radio access technology (RAT) and multi-spectrum architectures to accommodate full coverage and seamless connectivity. 

“COVID-19 was a stress test to the nations’ digital infrastructure and operators had to modify their business plans to ensure data traffic was managed. This paper discusses how the telecommunications ecosystem must come together to ensure we are ready to handle these challenges,” shared edotco Group Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Adlan Ahmad Tajudin when discussing the white paper.

He further explained that towercos are more critical than ever now as nations expand 4G coverage and deploy 5G services. 

Achieving cost optimisation for 5G through increased tenancy ratios from active infrastructure sharing is crucial and presents new opportunities for towercos, he added. 

“We discuss how active infrastructure sharing will grow in popularity with the rollout of 5G and how it can help expand coverage, reduce costs, avoid infrastructure duplication, and maximise existing network facilities,” said him.

In addition, other key areas discussed in the white paper include how spectrum management will also directly impact demand for towerco services, efficient fibre deployment by towercos as they have the capabilities to manage backhaul connectivity on behalf of operators and the need for forward looking regulatory licensing and frameworks to enable these changes within the telecommunications industry.

Mohamed Adlan said, the group believes the cooperation among all parties and with other utilities is key to ensuring the industry players meet the nation’s digital aims. 

For records, Malaysia has seen positive development on this front as communication services have just been classified as a public utility, alongside water and electricity. 

“The onus to enable rapid 4G and 5G evolution is on towercos and we are ready to play an active role towards partnering the various parties, engaging policy makers and advocating for the right steps towards enabling the connectivity evolution,” he said. - DagangNews.com