Pinnacle Towers secured funding from KKR in November 2020 and has deployed capital in the Philippines under its subsidiary Frontier Tower Associates Philippines.
“We are incredibly excited to invest in Bangladesh and support the continued expansion of digital connectivity, which is so central to inclusive economic development, in such a vibrant market," said Patrick Tangney, chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Towers.
AB Hightech has amassed a total of 225 sites to date. 50 of these towers have come from a build to suit agreement with Bangalink, while the remaining 175 were built with Robi as the anchor tenant.
It is reported that AB Hightech will be rebranded as Frontier Towers Bangladesh Limited, in line with Pinnacle’s branding in the Philippines. An official process is underway, with a further announcement expected from the company in the coming weeks.
“The entry of Pinnacle into the Bangladesh market is great news and an opportunity for the country’s telecom sector. We look forward to continuing to help develop the telecom infrastructure of the country,” added Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, vice chairman of AB Hightech.
In addition, to chairman and CEO Patrick Tangney, Pinnacle’s leadership team includes COO Yvonne Steel and CFO Tim Knowles.
At the same time, Pinnacle has begun to build a new management team with a core focus on local talent. The CEO of the new business will be Serajus Saleheen who has spent time at edotco, Telenor, Ericson and IBM.
The team will initially focus on the rebranding and integration of the two businesses and developing additional build to suit towers. Immediate priorities include securing a build to suit agreement with Telenor-owned Grameenphone, which operates the largest tower portfolio of the four operators in Bangladesh and has the largest mobile market share.
“This is a great opportunity for ABHT and I am thrilled to be able to work with an established platform with global expertise. We look forward to working closely with the highly experienced team and to make a difference to the people of Bangladesh,” said Adnan Imam, FCCA, Director of AB Hightech.
Be sure to register for this year's TowerXchange Meetup Asia where Tangney, Knowles and Steele are part of the esteemed speaker line up. For more detailed information on the Bangladeshi or Filipino tower market, and further insights to this story, check out Capacity's sister publication, TowerXchange for all the details.
