Cellnex consolidates its leading position in Europe

During the first six months of 2019, Cellnex Telecom has concluded agreements with Iliad in France and Italy, with Salt in Switzerland and with BT in the United Kingdom. The three growth operations will lead the company to increase the number of sites that it manages in Europe upwards to 45,000. 

Cellnex has carried out several growth operations in France, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in the first half of 2019, which will double the size of the company in the next few years, once all agreements have been executed and deployed.

On one hand, Cellnex has agreed with Iliad France, Italy Iliad and Salt in Switzerland, the acquisition of a total of 10,700 sites and the deployment of 4,000 more sites between 2020 and 2027. The overall investment of these three operations exceeds 4,000 million euros, 2,700 million for the purchase of the 10,700 towers (5,700 in France, 2,200 in Italy and 2,800 in Switzerland) and 1,350 million for the gradual deployment of the new sites to be built in each country (2,500 in France, 1,000 in Italy and 500 in Switzerland).

On the other hand, the company has signed a long-term strategic agreement in the United Kingdom with BT, through which it has obtained the rights to operate and commercialize 220 telecommunications towers. The agreement, worth 100 million pounds sterling, includes the commitment to explore new opportunities for collaboration between both companies, especially in areas that will be key to the deployment of 5G.

Once these agreements are executed and deployed, the company will manage more than 45,000 sites in Europe, and the backlog —future sales hired— of Cellnex will grow by 18,000 million euros to a total of 36,000 million.

In just 4 years —from its IPO in May 2015—, Cellnex has multiplied the number of site in Europe by 6, from 7,400 locations in a single country —Spain— to 45,000 sites planned in the six countries in Europe in which the company operates: Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

“Cellnex strengthens its role as a neutral infrastructure operator in Europe”  

Tobias Martinez, CEO of Cellnex, highlighted the European scope as well as the industrial and strategic fit of the agreement reached with Iliad and Salt which will “allow us not only to reinforce our position as the main independent infrastructure operator in France, but also to decisively strengthen our platform in Italy, a key strategic market, and significantly expand our foothold in Switzerland.  Furthermore, Cellnex strengthens its role as a neutral host by having two major anchor tenants within its network sites. The combined effect of these agreements results in an increase of our current  portfolio across six European countries by more than 50% –to 45,000 sites in total. The latter allows us to properly assess the very quantum leap nature of these deals”.

“A greater density and capillarity of our sites networks”, continues Tobias Martinez, “means a differential added value that enhances Cellnex’s role as a natural partner for all mobile operators in Europe, meeting their densification needs in the current 4G roll-out while accelerating that of 5G”.