05 March 2025

Which technology gaps still exist in Africa’s tower sector, and how are industry players responding to meet the new demands amidst seemingly unstoppable digitisation?

The Africa tower sector faces several technology gaps; however, almost all industry experts agree that power is the biggest divider.

“The biggest challenge faced by infrastructure providers in this continent lies in energy efficiency and power reliability,” asserts Ramesh Khanna, CEO, Tarantula. “Many towers still depend on expensive and polluting diesel generators because of unreliable electricity grids. Limited digitalisation also makes it harder to maintain towers efficiently.”

“4G and 5G equipment requires more power than 2G and 3G, this has further widened the technology gap as there is limited availability of reliable power supply, which hinders the efficient operation of tower infrastructure,” adds Andrew Edmondson, CEO, Insite Towers.

Anoj Singh, Vice President of Global MNO Business, Vanu, highlights that the deployment of scalable energy solutions is a particular concern.

“The sector is heavily reliant on diesel generators for powering telecom towers, which poses challenges related to fuel costs, environmental impact, and operational sustainability,” says Singh. “The gap in adopting greener and more sustainable energy alternatives, such as solar and hybrid power systems, significantly hampers the sector’s growth and efficiency.”

“If we look at power, tower companies will certainly benefit from adopting the latest power solution technologies including hybrid solutions with solar and wind for instance,” agrees Al Mahdi Chakri, Head of Portfolio Development for Mobile Networks MEA at Nokia. “These innovations can improve reliability and reduce dependence on traditional power sources.”

Of course, the power situation varies significantly from country to country and region to region across the continent.

“Countries with a large number of towers such as Nigeria and South Africa have made large strides in adopting renewable energy and optimising power consumption,” explains Khanna. “Conversely, countries with disparate and rural geographies struggle to deploy towers and continue to grapple with frequent grid outages. To address these gaps, solutions like hybrid power systems and IoT-based predictive analytics can play a vital role in creating more sustainable and reliable operations.”

Conversely, Singh believes that “challenges are more or less the same across all the regions if we consider remote and rural regions. They still face significant gaps in energy infrastructure. Renewable energy deployment is slow due to limited infrastructure, investment, logistic challenges.”

Towers-as-a-service

On the road to bridging the technological and geographical coverage gaps in Africa’s tower sector, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) companies are playing a crucial and expanding role. By leveraging NaaS models, telecom providers and tower operators can address several of the challenges associated with rural deployment and operation and significantly improve the economics of tower operations.

“NaaS is still in a relatively infant stage but is showing great promise,” says Christopher Greaves, researcher, Middle East & Africa, TowerXchange. “Rural TowerCos such as AMN, NuRAN and Vanu have all been successfully raising capital from DFIs, impact funds and even gaging early-stage interest from private equity. TowerXchange estimates that there are over 10,000 rural towers in the deployment pipeline from just these three companies alone. NaaS is proving to be an effective solution for MNOs to meet coverage obligations and reach new untapped markets in the 2G and 3G bands, while reducing capex burdens to near-zero.”

“NaaS providers deploy and manage telecom infrastructure as bundled Active (GSM and LTE RAN) and Passive (tower and solar power solution) allowing mobile operators to focus on the core business of providing services to end subscriber i.e. mobile voice and data,” explains Singh. “NaaS companies present a compelling solution for rural connectivity challenges, particularly in Africa. By lowering costs, leveraging shared infrastructure, and focusing on sustainable energy solutions, they make rural sites financially viable for MNOs. While challenges remain, the NaaS model holds significant potential to bridge the rural connectivity gap and drive economic growth in underserved regions. Collaboration between NaaS providers, MNOs, and governments will be key to unlocking its full potential.”

Khanna believes that, especially for rural connectivity, NaaS companies are pivotal: “by enabling shared infrastructure (both active and passive) and leveraging solar power and lightweight towers, NaaS providers can deliver connectivity in rural areas in a cost-effective manner. Companies such as AMN and the Orange/Vodacom JVs are using this approach to achieve economies of scale across the rural areas in Africa.”

Justin Head, Co-founder and executive vice-chairman, PowerX, however, believes that while they have a role to play, NaaS companies are not an effective standalone solution.

“The operation of NaaS involves significant capital investment, as these companies need to establish and maintain the infrastructure necessary to support their services. This requirement means that the speed of deployment can be relatively slow, as NaaS providers often face the continuous challenge of raising capital for expansion. While NaaS can facilitate more efficient provisioning of tower services and potentially lower overall costs, the financial realities of securing funding can hinder rapid rollout in rural areas where immediate connectivity is most needed,” opines Justin Head, co-founder and executive vice-chairman, PowerX. “It must be integrated with other strategies and models to ensure timely and effective delivery of tower services. A multifaceted approach, combining NaaS with public-private partnerships, innovative financing solutions, and local community engagement, will likely yield the most effective results in expanding access to telecommunications in these hard-to-reach areas.”
And Greaves notes that NaaS puts significant risk on the infrastructure provider, who can only rely on a small proportion of fixed-lease income: “this has limited NaaS partnerships to large, lower-risk operators such as Orange, MTN and Airtel who are more likely to guarantee the ability to generate revenues long-term.”

Tapping into adjacent verticals

While African TowerCos have predominantly focused on core macro tower infrastructure in the past, today’s market evolution is likely to include increasing uptake of integrated adjacent verticals such as Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), small cells, and smart city connectivity into business models.

“Diversification of digital infrastructure is inevitable in Africa. However, the demand for DAS, small cells, and IoT infrastructure will be driven by urban densification in large cities and upcoming smart city projects,” opines Khanna. “For instance, smart city projects in South Africa and Kenya are driving the need for IoT support, while small cells will cater to growing 5G adoption. TowerCos integrating these verticals will unlock new revenue streams and bolster competitiveness.”

“As urbanisation increases and the IoT expands, the need for diverse connectivity solutions becomes more critical. Integrating adjacent verticals allows tower companies to provide comprehensive services that meet the varied needs of modern users and urban environments,” says Head. “Ultimately, as the industry evolves, we are likely to see tower companies in Africa adapting to the new connectivity landscape by integrating adjacent verticals into their business models, supported by the power of data science to inform and optimise these expansions.”

Prompted by growing demand for more, better connectivity both indoors and out, increased capacity, coverage expansion, and the drive for digitisation, Africa’s TowerCos would be remiss not to diversify revenue streams, improve network quality, and support next-gen technologies.

“TowerCos are well-positioned to invest in these technologies as MNOs seek cost-effective ways to meet rising data demands. As we know, mobile broadband usage is growing in African cities and networks are experiencing higher network congestion, so solutions like DAS and small cells are critical to enhancing indoor coverage and boosting network capacity in dense urban areas,” shares Singh. “Several African governments are launching smart city projects to improve urban infrastructure, transportation and public services. Tower can surely play a vital role by providing the infrastructure backbone for IoT sensors, surveillance systems, and public Wi-Fi networks in smart cities.”

Additionally, there is significant potential for African TowerCos to grow from basic physical tower sharing to progressively more active equipment sharing and neutral hosting.

“This will present several opportunities for TowerCos. In fact, this integration evolution is already happening in other regions of the world where some TowerCos are de-facto neutral host providers offering inbuilding infrastructure with DAS and small cell for residential buildings, venues, airports and others,” notes Chakri. “This integration is needed at different levels: bridging the digital divide with rural connectivity through connectivity-as-a-service model. It is needed to efficiently address government smart city initiatives and the urbanisation requirements of many areas in Africa for improved indoor and in building coverage.”

“While macro towers will remain the stable of African TowerCos, we are seeing an increasing need to diversify service offerings and provide more bespoke solutions to fit the needs of customers,” agrees Greaves. “For example, Helios Towers has seen an increase in demand for outdoor DAS systems for high-density white spots, supporting capacity of the macro layer. As Africa urbanises and sees smart city technology adoption, demand for inbuilding and small cell infrastructure will also increase. ATC Uganda has been working with the Kigali City Municipality to deploy urban street monopoles as part of the city’s smart city strategy, for example.”
“As the African TowerCo market continues to evolve, we can expect to see a gradual shift towards a more integrated and diversified business model,” confirms Edmondson. “Our strategy has been to embrace the evolution in the TowerCo role, and we have already begun investing in Optic Fibre and Wi-Fi networks.”

Tower tech in 2025

So, what’s in store in tower tech terms for 2025?
“Tower technology in Africa is poised for significant growth and innovation in 2025,” asserts Edmondson. “My expectations are centred around: increased adoption of renewable energy; expansion of fiberisation; rise of edge computing: growing focus on sustainability; and increased investment in digital infrastructure.”

Head, meanwhile, expects to see significant advancements in tower technology driven largely by the increased use of data science. Tower companies are likely to adopt more sophisticated analytics and ML algorithms to optimise operations, enhance network performance, and improve overall service delivery.

“I would like to see tower companies embracing data science as a core component of their strategy, enabling them to derive actionable insights and adapt quickly to the rapidly changing telecommunications landscape. This transformation could also result in the development of new revenue streams through value-added services, including remote monitoring, analytics solutions, and partnership opportunities with other sectors, such as transportation and energy,” notes Head.

On the power side of things, Singh expects TowerCos to continue to invest in solar, wind, and hybrid power systems to reduce reliance on diesel generators, in line with growing pressure from governments and investors to adopt sustainable practices.

Khanna, too, expects greater reliance on renewable energy, with solar and hybrid systems becoming the norm, as well as “large-scale digitalisation of tower management through comprehensive tools; AI-driven predictive maintenance to reduce downtime; and wider deployment of hybrid macro and small-cell towers with small footprints and quick deployment to bridge connectivity gaps.”

Similarly, “we expect to see TowerCos progressively evolving from their initial offering cantered around physical site and power sharing to more active sharing,” asserts Chakri. “We also expect to see a progressive integration toward adjacent areas including neutral hosting for in-building coverage and rural connectivity with as-a-service business models. We would also like to see TowerCos in Africa further investigating in opportunities for edge data centres, enhanced network monitoring and innovative digital services powered by AI from a technology standpoint and a stronger contribution towards bridging the digital divide in rural areas, while also facilitating the introduction of 5G.”

Also focusing on Africa’s unstable power supplies, Greaves expects to see technology adopted fastest in the energy component of tower operations: “this is where most of the pain points are. AI is becoming increasingly better understood and operations/technology executives are paying more attention to how AI can be utilised to drive operational and technical efficiencies. Most TowerCos in Africa have adopted some form of power-as-a-service or in-house energy generation, and AI is proving to be a critical tool in helping balance run-time of complex hybrid energy systems utilising a combination of renewable, battery, grid, and back-up generator power. Digital twin technology has also been around for a few years now, and seen some early adoption, but has not quite seen widespread take-up due to cost and questions of practicality. But as TowerCos shift their strategic focus away from M&A towards lease-up and increasing colocation, the use-case of digital twins may strengthen to help TowerCos manage increasingly complex sites.”

Singh, too, expects an expansion of small cell and DAS deployments to address urban network congestion and support 4G/5G expansion; for telecom regulator and respective government agencies to continue incentivising rural connectivity; and for TowerCos to explore more NaaS and infrastructure sharing models to further optimise the deployment costs.

“I would like to see affordable and reliable rural connectivity – by deploying cost effective and low power consumption radio access network solutions based on 2G and 4G technologies powered over off-grid solutions and ensuring universal coverage in rural areas,” adds Singh. “Committed collaboration between NaaS, government, regulators, and non-profits are needed to fund and scale these rural connectivity projects and minimise the digital divide.”

Meanwhile, Edmondson hopes to see the standardisation of tower designs, equipment, and operations to facilitate easier maintenance, upgrades, and sharing of infrastructure; more initiatives to develop local talent and skills in tower maintenance, installation, and management to reduce reliance on international expertise; and improved security measures to protect tower infrastructure from vandalism, theft, and damage, ensuring reliable network operations.

“Greater collaboration among operators, tower companies, and governments to share infrastructure, reduce costs, and improve efficiency, is also needed,” notes Edmondson. “By focusing on these areas, Africa’s tower tech industry can continue to grow, improve, and support the continent’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.”