I think telecommunications companies are painted in an uncomfortable corner. These are businesses that need cash, which may require the disposal of non-critical assets. However, it will always be more financially attractive to own passive infrastructure than to conclude leases over long periods. The new agreement with Bouygues Telecom strengthens Cellnex`s position in the French market, where Cellnex has been operating since 2016, when it acquired a first set of 500 Bouygues Telecom sites. The company further strengthened its presence in 2017 and 2018 through new agreements with Bouygues, where Cellnex acquired and managed a total of more than 5,000 sites. In 2018 and 2019, cooperation with 5G network and infrastructure development agreements was extended. The SPV will acquire part of its existing fibre-optic infrastructure network from Bouygues Telecom and entrust Bouygues Telecom exclusively with the design and launch of the new fibre-optic infrastructure network. In return, Bouygues Telecom will enter into a 30-year wholesale commercial agreement with the SPV, in which it undertakes to acquire approximately 70% of the network`s capacity. The remaining capacity will be available for the third for sale. This time, the French operator has concluded a contract with the American Phoenix Tower International, which will build 4,000 towers throughout France over the next 12 years, in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Phoenix will control the JV and own and operate the sites. Indeed, adding more assets in France continues an M&A expansion that has made Cellnex the hottest neutral host for mobile infrastructure in Europe and operates a portfolio of approximately 58,000 sites (including planned deployments until 2027) in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, in Ireland and Portugal. In France, Cellnex said it would manage nearly 14,000 sites by 2027, once all its agreements have been completed, including 5,000 towers for Bouygues Telecom. The towers will be located in less populated areas and along communication routes. Some of these new sites will help Bouygues meet the coverage targets set by Arcep as part of its “New Deal Mobile” agreement, which requires telecommunications companies to expand the reach of advanced mobile services across the country and improve quality. Tobias Martinez, CEO of Cellnex, explains that “the agreement to set up in France a real fiber optic ring connecting different key elements of the ecosystem of fixed and mobile networks, from towers connected to fiber optics, from distributed data centers on the network to small cells, constitutes our commitment to a global model of cooperation with our key customers in order to effectively plan and operate the to facilitate networks telecommunications infrastructure”. Tobias Martinez, CEO of Cellnex Telecom, argued that the agreement was “the company`s commitment to a comprehensive model of cooperation with our key customers to facilitate the planning and efficient operation of telecommunications infrastructure networks.” “We are strengthening our long-term strategic partnership with Bouygues Telecom, a relationship forged in 2016 with our first agreement and which has continued to grow and consolidate since then,” said Martinez. While Cellnex has been operating in France since 2016, the additional 5,000 towers and roofs as well as the fiber optic network will certainly be built on this presence as a result of this agreement. . . .