HTN boss gives recipe for tower sharing

Chief executive of Nigeria’s pioneer infrastructure-sharing and site management company, Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN), Mr. Fazal Hussain, would join speakers at the West and Central Africa Com event holding at the Abuja International Conference Centre, Abuja, which kicks off today.

Mr. Hussain would be dwelling on ‘Examining the Benefits of Infrastructure Sharing and How to Apply it Successfully’.

A press statement from Helios, informed that Mr. Hussain’s presentation at the event would show operators how infrastructure sharing could be radically improved upon so as have return on investment on their cell sites in the face of rapid Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) decline and increasing OPEX due to rising fuel costs.

“ARPU in some emerging markets has dropped to as low as $3 (about N360), forcing operators to look at collocation as a way of managing their operational expenditure (OPEX)” he said.

Pointing out that competition has now become more than ever before because of heightened need for Quality of Service (QOS) improvements in the form of uptime, stressing that Helios Towers guarantees an SLA of 99 per cent uptime on its 1000-plus sites nationwide.

‘We can help operators manage their sites, reduce their OPEX, speed up their roll-out, and improve their uptime, all at once – making them more profitable and leaving them free to focus on their customers,” he said.

Hussain added that it is Helios Towers’ mission is to partner with the operators to help them achieve more robust and efficient networks in an environmentally friendly manner.

“With 1000-plus fully-managed multi-operator sites spread across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, Helios Towers is well positioned to do this,” he stated.

Mr. Hussain further disclosed that Helios Towers would be exhibiting at the two days event and visitors to the company’s stand during the AfriCom-08 would have the opportunity to learn exactly how Helios Towers could support customers to become more profitable, reduce their cost of operation and expediting their infrastructure roll-out.

As said by him, the company’s staff would be on hand to explain its various collocation service offerings, which are specially designed to meet customers’ specific requirements.

Founded in January 2006, Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN) prides itself as the first site going live in June 2006 and currently, has site portfolio of over 1000 with four-operator sites across with a strong presence in key markets including Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna, Onitsha and Ibadan.

Helios Towers is a world-class company and is well financed by a range of international investors including Helios Investment Partners (HIP); a $400m pan-African private equity fund.

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