TelecomTV TelecomTV
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Events
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • Open RAN
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • 5G
  • Access Evolution
  • Private Networks
  • Cloud Native
  • Edge
  • Open Networking
  • Sustainability
  • AI, Analytics and Automation
  • 6G Research and Innovation
  • Security
  • More Topics
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • |
  • About
  • Contact
  • |
  • Connect with us
  • 5G
  • 6G Research and Innovation
  • Access Evolution
  • AI, Analytics and Automation
  • Cloud Native
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • Edge
  • Open Networking
  • Open RAN
  • Private Networks
  • Security
  • Sustainability
  • Connect with TelecomTV
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Sign In Register Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
    • Register
  • Search

Access Evolution

Access Evolution

Cellnex takes on active role with €1.6 billion Polkomtel acquisition

Ray Le Maistre
By Ray Le Maistre

Feb 26, 2021

Cellnex's Augmented TowerCo model

Cellnex's Augmented TowerCo model

  • Neutral host giant is acquiring Polkomtel Infrastruktura in Poland
  • Buys existing assets for €1.6 billion and pledges €600 million to further capex
  • Deal involves active as well as passive assets, positions Cellnex as an ‘Augmented TowerCo’
  • Adds to assets being acquired in Poland from Play
  • M&A news comes as Cellnex announces 2020 financials

European neutral host giant Cellnex shifted up a strategic gear today with an acquisition of network assets in Poland that positions it as an ‘Augmented TowerCo’ that manages active network elements as well as passive infrastructure.

The new €1.6 billion deal to acquire Polkomtel Infrastruktura from Cyfrowy Polsat will add 7,000 tower sites plus a range of active infrastructure assets, including about 37,000 2G/3G/4G/5G radios, about 11,300km of fibre backbone and fibre backhaul connections plus microwave backhaul infrastructure across Poland. 

The deal, its second major European acquisition in the past month, also includes a pledge to invest €600 million in 1,500 additional sites and active assets (mostly 5G) during the next 10 years.

The acquisition is significant for a number of reasons. First, it adds yet further scale to the company in terms of assets it can offer to all of Poland’s service providers and adds Polkomtel (which offers services under the Plus brand) as an anchor tenant.

It also adds to Cellnex’s position in Poland, as the company already struck a deal last year to acquire a majority stake in the company that will own and manage the 7,000 tower sites of Polish operator Play. Once both deals are closed, Cellnex will have more than 14,000 existing sites, supporting transport infrastructure, active network assets and plans to build more than 6,000 additional sites across the country. (See Cellnex to add Play's towers to its portfolio in €800M deal.)

The deal also adds to Cellnex’s overall European portfolio, which once all existing acquisitions are closed and planned new tower sites builds are complete, will total 128,000 sites (though its current number of operating sites is about half of this total – see details below). 

Perhaps most significantly, the Polkomtel deal expands the role that Cellnex plays in Poland by including the management and operation of active as well as passive infrastructure.

Cellnex is already quite a diverse neutral host company, running broadcasting network infrastructure, subway networks, data centres and fibre networks in various markets, playing a role in what it calls “adjacent assets.” Adding active assets such as antennas and the radio access network (RAN) equipment to its list of managed infrastructure moves it into a role it calls ‘Augmented TowerCo,’ a role it plans to play in other European markets where it has more than one ‘anchor’ customer,

“Our expansion into active infrastructure is undoubtedly a qualitative leap and heralds a new reality for the company that broadens the development and growth options for Cellnex in Europe within telecommunications infrastructures,” noted Cellnex CEO Tobias Martinez. 

It also brings additional complexity to the company’s operations and customer agreements, and sharing active assets, and having to rely on the capabilities and performance of vital service delivery infrastructure that is managed and updated by a third party, will certainly not be attractive to all. 

But there seems little doubt there will be demand for such services as service providers seek to cut costs as traffic volumes continue to grow much faster than revenues. And Cyfrowy Polsat, which is selling the Polkomtel network assets but which will continue to run Plus as a major service provider in Poland, is clearly a fan of the model: "We believe active and passive network sharing is crucial for the provision of mobile connectivity in the future and mobile players have to follow this direction in order to provide high enduser experience," stated Maciej Stec, vice president responsible for strategy, Cyfrowy Polsat and Polkomtel.

Cellnex's move into active asset management comes just as activity in the European managed tower infrastructure market reaches fever pitch. (See Vantage Towers preps for Frankfurt IPO, Vantage Towers aims to be ‘5G superhost’ and Orange's Totem goes for pole position in race to exploit passive infrastructure assets.)

But the company is quite clear, though, that it doesn’t intend to be anything other than a neutral host: Martinez stressed today during its earnings press conference that cellnex has no plans to acquire spectrum licenses and offer wholesale communications services – it is leaving that market to its service provider customers.  

2020 financial results

Cellnex also today reported a 55% increase in full year revenues for 2020 to €1.6 billion and upped its forecast for 2021 to €2.405-€2.445 billion.

Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) almost doubled to €1.18 billion but various costs, including those related to its many acquisitions, pushed the company into a net loss of €133 million for the full year.

Its share price is up by 5.7% today to €44.94. 

At the end of 2020, the company had 58,014 operating sites (4,470 in Austria, 1,317 in Denmark, 10,312 in France, 1,781 in Ireland, 10,610 in Italy, 924 in the Netherlands, 5,052 in Portugal, 10,327 in Spain, 5,315 in Switzerland and 7,996 in the UK), though this number will increase during 2021 as various acquisitions close. It also has 3,004 DAS (distributed antenna system) and small cell nodes, an increase of 25% year-on-year.

For the full details on Cellnex’s financial results, go to the company’s investor relations page.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV

Related Topics
  • 5G,
  • Access Evolution,
  • Analysis & Opinion,
  • Backhaul,
  • Edge,
  • Europe,
  • News,
  • Radio Access Network,
  • Telco & CSP

More Like This

Access Evolution

Quectel launches Connectivity-as-a-Service and integrated SIM to simplify IoT deployments in Asia Pacific

Jun 29, 2022

5G

Seamless 5G connectivity: cars warn of road dangers across national borders

Jun 29, 2022

Access Evolution

Milestone of THz communication

Jun 29, 2022

5G

Aviat makes bold $235m bid to buy backhaul rival Ceragon

Jun 28, 2022

Access Evolution

Infinera and NEC to Modernize Neutral Networks’ Mexico to United States Fiber Optic Network

Jun 28, 2022

Email Newsletters

Stay up to date with the latest industry developments: sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox – including our daily news briefing and weekly wrap.

Subscribe

Top Picks

Highlights of our content from across TelecomTV today

10:14

Executive Interview: Vodafone’s Lucia De Miguel Albertos on the ultimate RAN Intelligent Controller

39:34

Figuring out the TCO of Open RAN

6:47

Dell's Role in Open RAN

4:24

Executive Interview: Neil McRae on BT's Open RAN Plans

TelecomTV
Company
  • About Us
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
Our Brands
  • DSP Leaders World Forum
  • Great Telco Debate
  • TelecomTV Events
Get In Touch
[email protected]
+44 (0) 207 448 1070
Connect With Us
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of Use
  • Legal Notices
  • Help

TelecomTV is produced by the team at Decisive Media.

© Decisive Media Limited 2022. All rights reserved. All brands and products are the trademarks of their respective holder(s).