KARACHI –
At a recent meeting with Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Datuk Azzat Kamaludin, Chairman of edotco Group and Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco Group shared their optimism of Pakistan’s connectivity developments and reiterated edotco’s continuing commitment to invest in the country’s digital growth through improved telecommunications infrastructure.
“Over the years, we have seen excellent opportunity in Pakistan. With a mobile SIM penetration rate at 73% and the strong performance of 3 and 4G services, digital growth in the country has been exponential. edotco Pakistan has a long-term service agreement with all major operators with a broad portfolio of infrastructure offerings including build to suit, O&M services and energy management solutions. Pakistan is a key market for us and we hope to continue introducing innovative infrastructure solutions to further advance Pakistan’s telecommunications sector” said Datuk Azzat.
At the meeting, the High Commissioner of Pakistan, H.E Mohammad Nafees Zakaria expressed his enthusiasm to intensify engagements between both nations. “Pakistan and Malaysia have shared a healthy bilateral relationship and Malaysian investment in Pakistan reaffirms Malaysia’s commitment to strengthening these ties. edotco’s interest to invest in Pakistan’s telecom related infrastructure development is appreciated and will be in line with the drive towards a digital Pakistan,” he said.
“Recent indicators by the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) revealed that out of 152 million cellular subscribers in the country, 60 million use either 3G or 4G whereas 62 million are broadband subscribers. To support these growing mobile penetration rates, edotco is committed to advancing connectivity in the country by helping to reduce barriers to internet access through improved network coverage and capacity. Our focus is on growing our operations there, both organically and inorganically” Datuk Azzat added.
To date, edotco Group’s business in Pakistan comprises of approximately 700 fully operational towers nationwide with a workforce of 130 telecom professionals. Through its local operations, the company has invested over USD 110 million in growing their local operations through 2018 and already have further investment plans for 2019. Edotco is already pursuing large-scale acquisition opportunities in the Pakistan market.
edotco currently owns and manages over 28,500 towers across the six countries in which they have a presence. Over the past five years the company has been committed to ensuring the right sharable infrastructure is constructed and efficiently managed to assist mobile operators in delivering cost effective and seamless connectivity.
