This includes a number of in-flight sites to be delivered by 2degrees in 2023. The addition of 2degrees’ towers means Connexa’s tower network comprises more than 2,350 towers throughout New Zealand.
Connexa chief executive Rob Berrill says the completion of the transaction follows regulatory approvals from the Commerce Commission and the Overseas Investment Office.
“We’re very pleased to complete this transaction with 2degrees which underscores Connexa’s vision to be New Zealand’s most comprehensive, efficient and sustainable tower network,” he said.
“We look forward to enabling a more connected digital future for Aotearoa as its demand and reliance on digital connectivity continues to grow.”
NZ commitment
In an interview with Capacity’s sister publication TowerXchange, Berill reaffirmed the company’s commitment to New Zealand’s digital future.
“More broadly, one of the key things we need to do is deliver on our customer commitments including a very large BTS programme over the next 10 years,” he said.
“The initial sale of the business to OTTP came with a BTS program of 670 sites from Spark and the 2degrees asset purchase comes with a commitment for us to add another 450 points of presence into their network as well.
“New Zealand currently only has around 4,500 towers in total, so we will be increasing this by about 25%.”
In order to do that, Berill says, Connexa must be data-driven and digitally-enabled right from its inception.
The company was formed in July 2022, with the acquisition of a 70% stake in Spark New Zealand’s passive mobile tower infrastructure assets by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), with Spark retaining 30%. That transaction concluded in October 2022.
Berill adds that moving forward, the business will revolve around a tower management system. With that the intention is to ensure that the physical assets are not just reflected in the system, but to highlight the enhanced digital data set relating to those assets, leveraging them in new ways.
“Delivery speed is critical for our customers, and we will need to create frictionless new site build and site modification journeys to achieve this.
This will be done with more focus on data and leveraging data-driven insights to ensure the delivery programmes are effective and efficient.
“If we set ourselves up for success by delivering value to New Zealand’s MNOs, we earn the right to explore growing into other areas.”
Stay tuned to TowerXchange for the full interview.
