TowerXchange estimate there to be a little over three and a quarter million telecom towers in the world, of which 61.1% are now owned and operated by towercos.
The transformation of the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem began in the U.S. in the mid nineties, where the independent towerco model has thrived. We estimate 82% of US towers are now towerco owned, as well as 80% of the country’s neutral host DAS and small cell nodes. The success of the towerco business model in the U.S. spilled into Southern and Central America, where towercos own 44% of the region’s towers, while the same philosophy drove towerco penetration in SSA from <1% in 2009 to 40% today – representing the majority of the investible towers in both markets.
