Spanish wireless infrastructure operator Cellnex has reached an agreement with Altice Europe and Belmont Infra Holdings, to acquire the 100% of Portuguese telecommunications towers and sites operator Omtel for 800 million euros ($890 million), Cellnex said in a statement.
The acquisition also covers the rollout of 400 sites within the next four years. The company said that this build-to-suit (BTS) program could be enhanced with 350 additional sites through 2027.
Omtel currently operates 3,000 sites in Portugal, which represents around 25% of the telecommunications towers in the European country. Omtel’s contracts with its clients, of which the main one is Portugal Telecom (MEO), are for 20 years with additional five-year periods.
“With Omtel, we are not only integrating one of the leading independent telecommunications infrastructure operators in Portugal. We are also committing to consistent growth in Europe, incorporating an eighth market – which naturally extends the current geographical coverage of the seven countries in which we already operate, and in this case especially due to the proximity and operational synergies that may arise with the Group in Spain,” said Cellnex CEO Tobias Martínez.
This new agreement adds to several other acquisition deals completed during 2019. In the first half of last year, Cellnex signed long-term strategic collaboration agreements with Iliad in France and Italy and with Salt in Switzerland to acquire 10,700 sites (5,700 in France, 2,200 in Italy and 2,800 in Switzerland) and rollout a construction program of 4,000 new sites up to 2027 (2,500 in France and 1,000 in Italy for Iliad, and 500 for Salt in Switzerland).
In June, Cellnex and U.K. telco BT announced that they had signed a long-term strategic collaboration agreement through which Cellnex acquired the operation and marketing rights of 220 telecoms towers in the U.K.
In September, Cellnex announced the acquisition of Irish telecommunications infrastructure operator Cignal for a total of 210 million euros. Cignal operates 546 sites in Ireland, which is now the seventh European country in which Cellnex has started operating. Furthermore, the company expects to roll out another 600 new sites in Ireland up to 2026, with an additional investment estimated at 60 million euros.
Also, in October Cellnex announced a deal to acquire the telecommunications division of UK company Arqiva. This operation involved purchasing 7,400 owned sites and acquiring the marketing rights of some 900 sites in the U.K. It also includes concessions for the use of urban fixtures for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in 14 districts of London.
In December Cellnex announced the acquisition of 1,500 sites from Orange Spain involving an investment of €260 million.
Cellnex Telecom currently operates a portfolio of approximately 58,000 sites including forecast roll-outs up to 2027. Cellnex operates in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and now Portugal.
In related news, American Tower Corporation announced that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of Eaton Towers Holdings Limited, adding approximately 5,700 communications sites to its African portfolio, the firm said in a release.
The total value of the acquisition was approximately $1.85 billion, including the assumption of existing Eaton Towers debt.
American Tower Corporation has also reached an agreement with MTN Group to acquire the latter’s minority stakes in each of the company’s joint ventures in Ghana and Uganda for total consideration of approximately $523 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval, and will result in a one-time impact for American Tower of approximately $65 million in 2020 from the payment of previously deferred cash interest related to joint venture debt.
American Tower currently operates a total of 177,000 telecom sites globally.
