Johannesburg — EATON, the cellphone tower provider, is expected to buy cellphone tower sites in SA and Ghana as part of its strategy to encourage infrastructure sharing on the continent.

Cellphone tower sharing is a new concept across Africa and aims to offset some of the capital and operational expenditure that infrastructure roll-outs demand.

Eaton's strategy is to own, build, manage and maintain telecoms towers for cellphone operators so they can reduce costs and focus on providing services to clients. It believes this strategy will also encourage wider telecoms coverage of rural areas.

Last year, research firm Delta Partners estimated that the number of towers in the Middle East and Africa was expected to increase by 50% in the next five years. It said 8bn in capital expenditure could be saved if operators shared towers.

Eaton CE Alan Harper said it was in discussion with cellphone operators in SA and Ghana to buy towers that it could turn into shared facilities.

An announcement could be expected within three months, Mr Harper said.

"This is the strategy we are pursuing across a number of different markets in Africa."

In SA, MTN, Vodacom and Neotel are rolling out a shared fibre-optic network.

Eaton opened an office in Tanzania yesterday, after opening similar operations in Johannesburg and Accra, Ghana, in the past few months.

"Mobile operators across Africa are seeking to reduce the cost of a network roll-out," Mr Harper said.

"Tower sharing can help them to reduce their asset base, (capital expenditure) and operating costs, allowing them to focus on increasing their coverage and the roll-out of new services to customers."

He said Tanzania was one of the most attractive markets in Africa for tower sharing, given its population of 43-million and a vibrant cellphone market, with 17- million subscribers and eight competing operators.

Subscriber numbers in the country are expected to double to 33-million within four years.

David Hunter, country manager of Eaton Towers Tanzania, said Eaton would manage the Tanzanian operators' towers and help them rapidly roll out new sites so they could "(reap) the compelling economic benefits of tower sharing without having to make any additional capital expenditure".

Delta Partners said tower sharing presented an attractive investment opportunity as the long-term leases would provide a stable, guaranteed cash flow.

Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda had markets conducive to tower sharing, Delta said.