Tower Market (Russia and the World)

2015

The first independent tower companies appeared in the United States in the mid-90s, before that all infrastructure belonged to the telecom operators themselves and, accordingly, was largely duplicated. The processes of transferring the functions of developing and servicing passive infrastructure to independent tower companies have covered the whole world - according to TowerXchange, out of 3.37 million towers, 61.1% are already served by infrastructure companies (spring 2016 data).

In Europe, a similar business model also exists, but so far it is only gaining momentum - for example, out of 600 thousand towers, roof structures, dual-use supports and DAS (distributed antenna system) in Europe, including Russia and the CIS countries, 36% of the facilities are served by infrastructure companies. In general, TowerXchange experts suggest that in 2016 the number of facilities run by infrastructure companies will increase to 40%, over the next two years - to 54%, and by the end of 2020 only 35% will be serviced by operators.

The European market has not stayed away from global trends, and many operators Europe have begun processes to allocate and subsequently sell their tower assets.

"In Italy, the process of selling towers is already the second operator, VimpelCom announced its intention to sell infrastructure in Russia and the CIS, Turkcell allocates towers in its assets, Avea is considering similar opportunities in Turkey - the process of selling towers in Europe has begun en masse and resembles the domino effect," said Temel Oktem, representative of International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Russian market

Russian "tower" companies: "Russian Towers," "Link Development" and "Service Telecom," "Vertical," as well as operators "VimpelCom" and "MegaFon." The Russian tower market is in its formative stages, and many of the mechanisms inherent in any developed market have yet to be established.

The Russian market has significant growth potential, which is confirmed by great interest in it from both foreign and domestic experts and investors.

tower companies in the world are expanding their business, becoming infrastructure companies more broadly. We do not just lease the space on the tower to operators - we are expected to have a full package of relevant services and their high quality. Our task as an infrastructure company is to assume all responsibilities related to the operation of a distributed network of base stations, from radio planning to the installation and maintenance of all the necessary equipment - base station, antennas, batteries. In turn, mobile operators will be able to fully focus on subscribers, marketing and new services, "said Chub Alexander, president of the Russian Towers group of companies

2023: Several court decisions made in Russia to reduce tariffs for connection to communication supports tenfold

In mid-July 2023, it became known that several Russian courts issued decisions to reduce tariffs for the placement of communication equipment on the supports of power lines. Operators managed to reduce the cost tenfold.

The initiator of one of the cases in question was the Photon company, which filed a lawsuit against PJSC Rosseti Center represented by a branch of Yarenergo. The Arbitration Court of the Yaroslavl Region ruled to establish prices for services for placing communication networks on power line supports in the amount of 2.08 rubles per 1 support per month on an overhead line of 0.4 kV and 1.54 rubles on a line of 6 (10) kV. At the same time, Yarenergo initially requested an order of magnitude higher amounts. The ruling may be appealed by appeal to the Second Arbitration Court of Appeal.

Several Russian courts issued decisions to reduce tariffs for the placement of communication equipment on the supports of power lines

The infrastructure owner has no right to condition access to the infrastructure by receiving other paid services or access to other objects that the infrastructure user did not order. Access to infrastructure must be granted to any infrastructure user based on non-discriminatory conditions, court documents say.

Meanwhile, the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region ruled in favor of the operator Magint, which filed a lawsuit against Gorelektroset JSC. When concluding the contract, the parties had disagreements regarding the amount of the cost of using the supports. According to the decree, the cost of granting the right to place drugs (communication lines) on 82 supports is 380 rubles per month, excluding VAT, and the cost for one suspension of engineering infrastructure for the settlement zone is 3.8 rubles per month. Initially, the agreement between the parties stated that "the cost of the granted right to place a drug monthly is 13,571 rubles. 40 kopecks, including VAT -20%."^[1]

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