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TowerXchange & Power Summit RegistrationKICC60 mins
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KICC Conference Room30 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
2024 and 2023 were some of the toughest years for the African telecom tower industry on record. TowerXchange has assembled the four largest tower owners in Africa to discuss what’s next for growth, strategy, technology and performance heading in to 2025 and beyond.
- How have major challenges over the last 12 months impacted new strategic priorities?
- Is MNO financial health becoming a major concern? How are towercos supporting their customers?
- Cooperating with governments and regulators
- What opportunities are there for partnerships and joint-ventures with other infrastructure and service providers to generate greater value-add for customers?
- Is the outlook for 2025 a positive one?
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KICC Conference Room15 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Macro turbulence, currency exchange shocks, interest rate hikes and ramped inflation has inflated costs of capital and shaken up the sector. In this current climate, how do towercos need to rethink their operational strategy, maximizing returns on every drop of invested capital and squeezing out every drop of efficiency from their networks?
- What has the last 12 months revealed about inefficiencies or weak points in operational management?
- Is investing in cost-saving solutions the best way to maximise return on invested capital?
- Where are the opportunities for towercos to further reduce their network costs?
- How are MNO demands for transparent tenant billing and emissions reporting impacting the need for site visibility?
- Do towercos have the appropriate industry knowledge and expertise to deliver on big data automation?
- Is there an emerging use-case for AI?
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Networking BreakKICC40 mins
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KICC Conference Room10 mins
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KICC Conference Room15 mins
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KICC Conference Room15 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
East Africa is quickly becoming one of the continent’s most developed regions with strong GDP growth leading to rapid economic and social development. We explore how innovative strategies, collaborative approaches, and transformative technologies are driving demand for towercos in existing and new markets across Meetup Africa’s new home region.
- How are regional macro and market dynamics driving demand for telecom infrastructure?
- Collaboration from governments and regional organisations to standardise infrastructure sharing
- Where do towercos see new opportunities for regional expansion?
- Is Ethiopia the next major opportunity for towercos?
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Networking LunchKICC80 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Towercos own 50% of towers in Africa with plenty of room for growth, but an update in carve-outs could indicate a shift in MNO strategy towards retaining value creation. Challenging conditions are also putting pressure on smaller towercos to either exit or merge to generate scale; where will the next wave of M&A come from?
- Is M&A still part of towerco expansion strategy?
- Do acquisitions offer better return on invested capital than organic builds?
- How MNOs are unlocking value through carve-outs
- Is now the time for towerco consolidation?
- Appetite for sale leasebacks with smaller, local MNOs
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KICC Conference Room 240 mins
Despite Africa’s mature tower market, tenancy ratios are varied and below European and US averages. How are towercos preparing their portfolios to drive free cashflow and organic tenancy growth through colocations?
- Impact of MNO densification strategies on tenancy ratios
- How ready are towerco networks for multiple tenants?
- The need for greater visibility and monitoring on multi-tenant sites
- Managing scaling energy demand for multiple tenants
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Africa needs around US$500bn in investments to achieve universal broadband access. Despite this gap, the downward economic cycle has made it hard to attract investment to the continent despite the huge infrastructure gap. How can the tower industry compete for a slice of the pie, and how do investors see opportunities?
- Investor appetites, how are investors selecting where to allocate capital?
- Where do DFIs see opportunities to deliver economic and social value?
- What role does private capital have to play in African towers?
- Will foreign capital continue to dominate investments?
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KICC Conference Room 240 mins
By 2050, Africa is expected to have up to seven megacities with most of the population living in urban environments by 2033. With increasing urbanization combined with growing demand for access to connectivity and new technology, how does urban network design need to change to meet Africa’s urban coverage needs?
- Are macro towers alone sufficient to support MNO network needs?
- How does network and RF planning need to change with 4G densification as well as emerging 5G
- Do towercos need to widen their product offering to remain competitive for urban deployments?
- Barriers to urban deployment; backhaul and underlying infrastructure
- Cooperating with city councils, municipalities and regulatory authorities
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Networking BreakKICC30 mins
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KICC Conference Room60 mins
Working Group 1A | TechTowers: Innovating cost-efficiency & operational excellence
Increased costs, depressed revenues and the pressure of greening the network is placing greater demand on tower networks to become as cost effective and efficient as possible. What technologies, tool and solutions will help drive the industry forward to minimize capex, opex and GHG emissions?Roundtable 1B – J
1B: Country spotlight: South Africa
1C: Country spotlight: DRC
1D: Country spotlight: Nigeria
1E: Minigrid partnerships with towercos
1F: What makes a true ESCO?
1G: Fixed Wireless Access: the next big towerco tenant?
1H: Reaching Africa’s underserved communities
1J: Regulation and corporate governance in Africa
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Networking Drinks ReceptionKICC75 mins
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TowerXchange & Power Summit Registration OpensKICC60 mins
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KICC Conference Room10 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Tough macroeconomic conditions, low ARPUs and escalating network costs have put pressure on capex and opex for towercos and MNOs. This panel discusses how towercos and their customers need to come back to the table to renew their relationships.
- Have escalating costs made towercos too expensive?
- Rethinking towerco contracts to suit Africa’s current economic climate
- What more can towercos do to support MNO’s budgeting constraints?
- Planning for the next stage of contract renewals
- How is offering additional services a solution for MNOs?
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Towercos have proven themselves as effective partners for MNOs to manage their passive tower infrastructure needs, but as technology evolves and operator CAPEX is stretched, where can towercos provide additional benefits beyond macro towers, keeping their customers happy and well-serviced?
- Do low African tower valuations make adjacent infrastructure a more viable option?
- Is FTTT the next step in ensuring towers remain attractive to MNOs?
- Is there a role for towercos in the datacentre space?
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Networking BreakKICC30 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
Network-as-a-service is proving itself as a viable alternative to fixed-lease contracts for rural coverage, supporting the commercial use-cases and driving MNOs into remote areas. What role to NaaS providers see themselves playing in Africa’s huge infrastructure gap, and does NaaS have a bigger role to play outside of rural frontiers?
- Pipeline of deployments across Africa
- What do investors need to know about NaaS?
- Delivering backhaul for rural networks
- Will network-as-a-service and Naascos stay on the rural frontiers?
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KICC Conference Room15 mins
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KICC Conference Room40 mins
As MNO coverage needs evolve, towers form one part of a variety of connectivity solutions from ground-based to stratospheric and satellite. How can these various actors collaborate to provide a holistic coverage solution for their customers, and will this be a partnership of cooperation or competition?
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Networking LunchKICC50 mins
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KICC Conference Room25 minsGet quick insights into the technologies and solutions that can drive the industry forward from leading vendors and providers in digestible 5-minute burst presentations
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KICC Conference Room60 mins
Working Group 2A | Managed services: Operating tower networks
An invitation-only session inviting MSPs to discuss how they are supporting towercos with their organic and operational needs, ensuring supply chains remain resilient and exploring new services to keep Africa’ towers running.
Roundtables 2B – J
Sit down with country and industry experts covering a variety of operational, technical or strategic talking points alongside fellow industry peers.2B: Country spotlight: Kenya
2C: Country spotlight: Tanzania
2D: Country spotlight: Ethiopia
2E: Country spotlight: Angola
2F: Meeting Africa’s ever-expanding rural coverage demands
2G: How can towercos support Africa’s inbuilding coverage needs?
2H: Transitioning from towerco to infraco
2J: TBC
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KICC50 mins
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KICC Conference Room60 mins
TowerXchange brings together the moderators from Meetup Africa’s country spotlight roundtables to reflect on the similarities and differences between Africa’s dynamic tower markets, where the industry faces unique conditions and opportunities for shared learning and cooperation, followed by a Q&A.
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KICC Conference Room10 mins
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Networking Drinks ReceptionKICC90 mins
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