The Spanish firm and French telco Bouygues are evaluating the acquisition of additional cell towers
Spanish telecommunication tower operator Cellnex Telecom confirmed it has completed the acquisition of a package of 230 cell towers from French telco Bouygues Telecom in France.
This initial phase required a total investment of 80 million euros ($89.4 million). The acquisition of this portfolio of cell towers is accompanied by a 20-year contract for Cellnex to provide services to Bouygues Telecom.
These initial 230 towers are distributed throughout France, mostly in suburban and rural areas.
Cellnex also said it is currently working with Bouygues on the second phase of the agreement signed in July, which contemplates a possible increase up to 500 towers, which is expected to close before the end of the year.
“We are embarking on a long-term collaboration that opens the door to other areas of interest such as the construction of new build-to-suit sites or the rollout of new technologies based on small cells for mobile broadband,” Cellnex’s CEO Tobias Martinez said. “We are bolstering our European reach and, with it, the ability to build agreements and alliances with customers operating in various European countries to which we can offer connectivity solutions for telecommunications.”
Bouygues Telecom currently operates a portfolio of 11,000 sites in the French market. France hosts 56,000 of the 330,000 telecommunication sites across Western Europe.
Cellnex’s portfolio currently comprises more than 16,100 sites across Europe. The firm operates in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France.
Ericsson, Movistar Argentina trial LTE-A technology
In related news, Swedish vendor Ericsson and the Argentine subsidiary of Spanish mobile operator Movistar have achieved downlink transmission speeds of up to 288 megabits per second in an LTE-Advanced trial which took place in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires.
The tests, which aggregated spectrum in the 700 MHz and 2100 GHz/1700 GHz AWS bands, took place at Telefónica’s laboratory in Buenos Aires, using commercially available terminals. The maximum download speed previously achieved over Movistar’s 4G networks was 140 Mbps.
Movistar Argentina has already deployed over 2,500 base stations for the provision of LTE services.
