Spanish wireless infrastructure operator Cellnex has reached an agreement with Orange Spain to acquire a portfolio of 1,500 telecommunications sites in the country, the former said in a release.
Cellnex said that the acquisition of the towers and antennas, which are located in urban, suburban and rural areas, involves an overall investment of 260 million euros ($288 million). The company also said that acquisition will be financed through available cash.
Cellnex and Orange Spain have also signed an initial 10-year contract that can be extended by a subsequent period of 10 years and several one-year periods, under the terms of which Orange Spain will continue to use the sites that will be operated by Cellnex.
“With this operation Cellnex not only reinforces our position in Spain as an independent telecommunications infrastructure operator, but also consolidates our relationship with Orange as one of the key clients of the group with which it had already been working in Spain as well as France”, said Alex Mestre, global business director at Cellnex Telecom.
This new agreement adds to several other acquisition deals completed earlier this year. In the first half of 2019, Cellnex signed long-term strategic collaboration agreements with Iliad in France and Italy and with Salt in Switzerland to acquire 10,700 sites (5,700 in France, 2,200 in Italy and 2,800 in Switzerland) and roll out a construction program of 4,000 new sites up to 2027 (2,500 in France and 1,000 in Italy for Iliad, and 500 for Salt in Switzerland).
In June, Cellnex and U.K. telco BT announced that they had signed a long-term strategic collaboration agreement through which Cellnex acquired the operation and marketing rights of 220 telecoms towers in the U.K.
In September, Cellnex announced the acquisition of Irish telecommunications infrastructure operator Cignal for a total of 210 million euros. Cignal operates 546 sites in Ireland, which is now the seventh European country in which Cellnex has started operating. Furthermore, the company expects to roll out another 600 new sites in Ireland up to 2026, with an additional investment estimated at 60 million euros.
Also, in October Cellnex announced a deal to acquire the telecommunications division of UK company Arqiva. This operation involved purchasing 7,400 owned sites and acquiring the marketing rights of some 900 sites in the UK. It also includes concessions for the use of urban fixtures for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in 14 districts of London.
Cellnex Telecom currently operates a portfolio of approximately 54,000 sites including forecast roll-outs up to 2027. Cellnex operates in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
