Examining the Benefits of Infrastructure Sharing and How to Apply it Successfully

Transcription

1 Examining the Benefits of Infrastructure Sharing and How to Apply it Successfully Faz Hussain CEO Helios Towers Mobile:

2 Introduction Executive Summary Market Dynamics Financial Indicators Strategies Options Conclusion

3 Market Dynamics Fast Growing Market Large Geographical Spread ARPU Declining Opex Increasing Infrastructure sharing is a must

4 Key Drivers QOS Capacity Coverage Uptime Transmission ARPU Lower Opex VAS

5 Valuation The valuation of wireless Operator is: Call Revenue (No. of Subscribers x ARPU) + TERMN. Revenue ( # of Subscriber x Term. Fee) - Customer Acquisition Costs - OPEX Are you focused on creating shareholder Value???

6 Identifying Where the Real Costs Lie? Capex BTS costs (usually small part of the total) Fixed links (microwave or leased lines) Backhaul (Fibre, microwave, satellite or leased capacity) Site acquisition and construction (roof-top or mast sites) Power, air-conditioning Core network and services Opex Annual site rental costs Electric power Transmission Maintenance Particular costs dependent on network and local factors

7 Roll Out Costs Up to 80% Capex can be in the RAN UP to 80% RAN Capex can be in the sites, Towers etc Essentially around 60%+ Capex is non-productive Infrastructure sharing can help Increase Geographic Coverage quickly

8 Cash Flow and Peak Funding For most Operators, peak funding requirement is key factor Different roll out strategies can have a large impact on capital needed but also on long term market share and profitability Free Cash Flow US$ Million Colo Cash Flow Free Cash Flow Cummulative Colo Cash Flow Cummulative Cash Flow

9 Main Factors Affecting Costs of Sites Site construction (Capex) Can number of mast sites be minimized? Site Rental (Opex) Merits of sites leasing versus own and build Fixed links and transmission (Capex and Opex) Leased lines versus microwave links? Satellite for remote locations? Provision of power especially in rural areas (Capex) Generators, solar power or batteries required? Cost per KW-hour (Opex) Air conditioning plant and maintenance (Capex and Opex) Maintenance can be a major operating cost and source of unreliability

10 Costs The increasing competition is forcing ARPU s down and the need for QOS improvements in the form of site uptime. The current market uptime average is around 70% - which will no longer be sufficient in a competitive environment In order to maintain a 99.9% uptime essentially requires considerable amount of capex in terms of built in redundancy of generators etc. In addition, Opex is increasing with power generation as the biggest contributor, which continues to increase at unprecedented rates Diesel costs have gone up from N89/litre in 2006 to N130/litre in 2008 showing a 46% increase in price Nepa availability is erratic and gone down from 15 hours to 6 hours showing a 150% decrease in power supply.

11 Operating Expenses Operating Expenses need to be defined carefully: Does Technical Opex include site and operating costs? How should manpower costs be allocated? How are Sales, Marketing and Administrative costs accounted for? Resulting Opex figure may vary from 5%- 30% of Capex or more Typical breakdown of site operating expenses? Personnel (maintenance) 20% Site rental 10% Power 50+% Transmission 10% Vendor Support Depreciation Personnel (maintenance) Site Rental Power Transmisson Tax Benefit Opportunity Cost

12 OPEX Costs Diesel PHCN Security (24 x 7 security, 3 shifts) Maintenance Staff (Field staff) Insurance Miscellaneous - SG & A Site rent (Rent or Amortized monthly) INDIRECT COST & OPPORTUNITY COST Amortization Capex -replacement items (batteries, gens etc) SG&A Interest (WACC) Missed Opportunities Churn - Due to poor QOS Vendor Support - Can be as high as 20% of your total Opex Backhaul - Can be as high as 10%

13 Why Infrastructure Sharing Infrastructure sharing provides practical means to improving a country s competitive landscape. Enormous opportunity to bridge up digital divide in under-developed countries in their far flung areas Traditionally characterized by huge fixed, sunk and irreversible investment, often making telecommunications infrastructure investment a high risk undertaking Unpredictable by the rapid introduction of successive generations of new technology Faced with a situation where even before recouping their investments in existing infrastructure they embark on further investment in a new generation networks of networks (e.g. migration from 2.5G to 3G) The sharing of existing or new network infrastructure can promote economic efficiency

14 Why Infrastructure Sharing Market entrants are able to compete effectively against existing infrastructure owners offering 3G or competing broadband or mobile services. High costs of acquiring licenses in a number of countries; operators would certainly welcome the possibility of sharing the costs of building out the networks Prevent wasteful duplication of resources. Network sharing can reduce infrastructure cost and consequently the upfront investment burden on new entrants thereby enabling new entrants to compete more effectively.

15 Potential Benefits and Risks of Site and Infrastructure Sharing Cost Reduction Particularly during early stages leading to reducing pay back times Reduced Time to market Allows operator to exceed minimum coverage targets Increased System Complexity Particularly where Site Swapping etc Loss of Operator differentiator Network coverage and quality differences Loss of Operator independence

16 Benefits Viewed largely as a measure to reduce costs It is estimated that up to 60% of initial roll-out costs can be saved by sharing infrastructure in the case of new networks Up to 20% of Opex can be saved whilst maintaining high uptime Can be used both in the start-up phase to build coverage quickly and in the longer term to build more cost-effective coverage in rural areas Most network operators currently share site facilities in order to co-locate network equipment (66% in Europe) Site and tower sharing has been commonplace for several years and has generally been considered to have promoted new entrant ability to compete against incumbent operators Prevents wasteful facility duplication and from an environmental perspective has had a positive impact.

17 Common Forms of Infrastructure Sharing Common Shared Networks Netco MVNO Geographical split National roaming agreement Site Swapping 3 rd Party Co-location

18 Types Generally it refers to the sharing of airtime and/or network facilities between one or more operators, can take a number of forms: Involves the sharing of space on masts and associated buildings or sites Alternatively, sharing can be more extensive such as in 3G infrastructure sharing arrangements that involve two or more operators coming together to share various parts of their network infrastructure for purposes of service provisioning Another variant can also take the form of national roaming where two or more operators reach an understanding that their respective subscribers can use each others networks when outside the geographical coverage of their home network It can also extend to the co-location of network elements and the sharing of frequency spectrum for wireless-based telecom services.

19 Other Forms of Network Sharing Geographical Split Two or more operators agree to build regional networks and to allow roaming Allows both parties to benefit from increased speed of roll-out May also be basis for simple site sharing National Roaming Subscribers use other network where home network is unavailable Allows recent entrants to establish national coverage rapidly GSM roaming for new 3G Operators without GSM

20 Conclusion Convert Capex into Opex Expedite rollout QOS is critical Manage Opex Infrastructure Sharing is a must for survival

21 Benefits Time to Market Gain customers immediately No hassle with Government approval No hassle about legal ownership of site Optimal site location Quality of Service Full in house management Guaranteed Uptime Improved customer satisfaction Increase in revenue per customer Reduced Churn Capex Reduction Convert Capex to Opex Improves ROI per BTS Improved Cash Flow Environment friendly Opex Reduction Reduced Customer acquisition costs Serve Low ARPU customer profitably Niche Services Enter rural markets

22 Back Up

23 Potential Cost Savings Considerable savings for Operators Simple to execute New Site Costs shared equally between two operators Complex to execute