This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 28, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd’s 62.37%-owned tower unit edotco Group Sdn Bhd has acquired 325 telecommunications (telecom) towers from South East Asia Telecom (Cambodia) Co Ltd.

The price of the deal was not disclosed, but edotco Group said the acquisition, via edotco (Cambodia) Co Ltd, is in line with its expansion strategy and further strengthens its position as a leading tower company in the country.

edotco Group chief regional officer of growth markets Phillip Wong said partnering closely with local network players remains a key strategy for the group in developing the telecom infrastructure in the country.

“This [latest] deal reinforces edotco Cambodia’s commitment to investing in Cambodia as a key market. We will be able to partner more effectively with mobile network operators by introducing even more sharable infrastructure and enhance network availability across the nation,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“With this deal we boost our reach in the country with an enhanced portfolio of over 3,600 telecommunications towers, further solidifying our position as a tower company of choice,” Wong said, noting that 2,600 of the towers are directly operated and owned by edotco Cambodia and the remaining 1,000 are managed through a range of services provided.

To date, edotco Group operates and manages over 28,500 towers across Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.