Vodafone Ghana outsources tower management

Vodafone Ghana said Tuesday it has signed a ten year contract with African tower company Eaton Towers, to take over the operations and co-location management of 750 telecom towers for the Ghanaian operator.

Over the life of the contract Eaton expects to invest up to $80m on upgrading and improving the existing towers and on improving Vodafone’s coverage in Ghana. Eaton will also develop the existing infrastructure and build new towers.

Eaton will also be able to sell co-location and shared-infrastructure facilities to other mobile operators, generating future revenues from separate long-term contracts. Vodafone Ghana meanwhile, expects to immediately benefit from cost savings and significantly reduced capital expenditure.

Alan Harper, chief executive of Eaton said: “Our co-location offering ensures that Vodafone’s infrastructure will continually improve, whilst maintaining the lowest possible operating costs. Furthermore, our tower-sharing agreements will enable Ghana’s mobile operators to reduce costs, reach more subscribers and avoid the environmental impact of duplicating towers.”

Vodafone Ghana is the country’s third placed operator, with 2.9 million subscribers. MTN Ghana leads the pack with 9.1 million users, followed by Millicom with 3.5 million. Zain and Kasapa bring up the rear with 1.4 million and 172,700 subscribers respectively.