Herbert Smith Freehills have credentials in Africa having advised Cell C on some of the active equipment aspects of their sale of towers to American Tower. However, TowerXchange wanted to talk about active infrastructure sharing when we visited TMT partners Nick Elverston and Amanda Hale. Nick and Amanda recently advised Telef?nica and Vodafone on their active infrastructure sharing joint venture Cornerstone, involving 24,000 towers in the UK. Will active infrastructure sharing spread to Africa?
TowerXchange: How do operators’ attitudes to infrastructure sharing in Europe compare to those in Africa?
Nick Elverston, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills:
It’s tough to persuade incumbent Mobile Network Operators to share networks wherever you are in the world, but in emerging markets we often find mobile operators are not quite as wedded to their networks.
