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The acquisition of Portuguese sites increases Cellnex’s portfolio to include sites in eight countries
Infrastructure giant Cellnex has purchased Portuguese towers and sites operator OMTEL for around €800 million.
The deal will see 3,000 sites change hands, comprising around 25% of Portugal’s telecommunication towers, with a further 400 planned for rollout in the next four years.
With Portugal’s 5G rollout on the horizon in 2020, Cellnex has been rapidly expanding, with estimates suggesting that this acquisition will increase the company’s sales backlog by €2.5 billion to €38.5 billion.
“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,” explained Cellnex CEO Tobias Martínez.
The deal also cements a long-term partnership with Portugal’s leading telco MEO.
“We are also incorporating a new client, MEO, which is the market leader and joins a rich and diversified mix of clients in Europe, covering the leading operators in the markets in which we operate,” said Martínez.
Cellnex also plans to upscale the number of sites in Portugal, with a further 350 planned by 2027, costing around €140 million.
Cellnex is positioning itself to fully capitalise on the European rollout of 5G, offering mobile operators a neutral and independent solution to their infrastructural problems. Since its public listing in 2015, Cellnex has been rapidly expanding throughout Europe, investing around €12 billion in acquiring 48,000 sites, and this number is only going to increase.
Meanwhile, telcos themselves are increasingly selling their tower infrastructure, a move that could see them become dependent on infrastructure specialists like Cellnex in the coming decade.
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