Infrastructure Brief

News and opinion on public works procurement

South Korea Targets 2028 For 6G Launch

By Kevin Davids

The country’s science minister has predicted that South Korea will seek to commercialize sixth-generation (6G) services by 2028.

On Tuesday, Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook stated during her address at the Mobile World Congress 2022, a mobile technology trade show currently being held in Barcelona: “We will create a society where all individuals can live their lives to the fullest by providing equal basic rights.”

The Mobile World Congress is one of the world’s three major tech events, along with the Consumer Electronics Show in the United States and IFA in Germany.

“We are continuing our preparations for the 6G era to commercialize 6G from 2028 to 2030 … it will offer a network 50 times faster than the current service and an expanded coverage of up to 10 kilometers above the ground,” Lim said.

South Korea, he said, has made significant advances in 5G network speed and coverage since the country’s first commercialization of 5G services occurred in April 2019.

Ms. Park also noted that her country would move ahead to create a new digital age with metaverse, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud technologies.

During the trip, Information and Communications Minister Seiichi Mina also met with officials from the United States, Finland, and Indonesia to discuss collaboration in 5G, 6G, and the metaverse.

This year’s MWC will be the first in three years since the trade show was canceled in 2020 and held online last year owing to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Filed Under: ICT

Brazil Awards $1.4b Road Project to Ecorodovias and GLP

By Kenneth Mwangi

A consortium is now to handle the upgrade project for Brazil’s BR-153 highway route. The stretch of BR-153 to be improved measures nearly 851km and connects Alianca do Toncantins with Anapolis.

Widening work will be carried out along a 623km stretch of the route, in addition with other upgrades to improve safety. Improvements to the route are expected to total US$1.42 billion. The work is expected to help Brazil’s struggling economy, both in generating new jobs and providing an economic boost through extra transport and trade.

The consortium working on the project comprises Brazilian road company Ecorodovias and the logistics company GLP. Work to this stretch of BR-153 was originally awarded in 2014 but the group awarded the concession did not meet the requirements so the right to the route were then taken over again by the Brazilian Government in 2017.

European Development Bank Invests €340m in African Infrastructure

By Kenneth Mwangi

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is approving €340 million for water and renewable energy in Africa. The loans are for the construction of sustainable infrastructure in Mali, Chad, Guinea, Malawi and Comoros.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) funding was announced in the margins of an EU-Africa forum co-organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and the EIB. The bulk of the funding, €300 million, is for the electricity interconnection between Guinea and Mali. This project is part of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Under the EIB-financed project, WAPP will construct a 225 kV double-circuit AC power line, approximately 714 km long, from Sanankoroba in Mali to Nzérékoré in Guinea (via Fomi in Guinea). The project also includes the installation of transformer stations in Siguiri, Fomi, Kankan, Kérouane, Beyla and N’Zérékoré (in Guinea) and Sanankoroba (in Mali).

The electricity injected into Mali’s national grid is generated from the Souapiti hydroelectric plant, recently commissioned in Guinea. The 550 MW facility operates from a dam built on the Konkoure River by China International Water & Electric Corporation (CWE).

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is co-financing the electricity interconnection between Guinea and Mali, the aim of the project is to increase the availability of electricity in both countries and strengthen the establishment of the regional electricity market in West Africa, in line with the Master Plan adopted in 2012 by ECOWAS heads of state.

The EIB is also providing funding for off-grid solar electrification in Chad and Comoros. The funding is for the off-grid provider InnoVent, which is expanding its services in Africa, particularly south of the Sahara. This solution is particularly deployed in Chad to accelerate access to electricity in rural or semi-urban areas.

Part of the EIB’s funding is dedicated to the provision of drinking water in Malawi. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 4 million people in this East African country do not have access to drinking water. Currently, the efforts of Malawian authorities and development finance institutions are also directed towards hygiene and sanitation. In Malawi, only 6% of the population has access to a sanitation facility. This leads to open defecation, which is a vector for diseases such as cholera.

GoldConnect Unveils its New Breakthrough Pricing & Engagement Platform Specific to the LATAM Region

By Kenneth Mwangi

GoldConnect, a leading wholesale telecommunications provider in Latin America and the Caribbean, announces the release of its state-of-the-art pricing & engagement platform, LatamConnect. The new interactive platform will provide customers with external plant feasibility analysis, in more than 17 countries in the GoldConnect network plus an additional 87+ partners in Latin America.

LatamConnect provides accurate firm pricing and delivers real-time information, including the shortest distance to a fiber optic location or building, diverse building entry, access type, and any CPE required. Meanwhile, the internal commercial team can view available providers and buildings for each location.

LatamConnect will roll out during Capacity LATAM and GoldConnect customers will have exclusive access to the platform.

“With this level of commercial automation, GoldConnect will enable our customers to complete projects in LATAM faster than ever,” said Jeremy Villalobos, COO of GoldConnect. “The enhanced platform algorithm can process extensive data for more than 40 million locations in Latin America. LatamConnect removes boundaries and opens endless possibilities not only for us but also for our customers.”

LatamConnect will enhance the overall customer experience. Customers will receive secure access to a service delivery module, which allows them the ability to immediately track their custom installation details, processes, and job status for site surveys, infrastructure deployments, equipment installations, and service configurations. This cutting-edge approach takes a proactive attitude towards their disruptive and innovative partnership proposals.

While there are similar platforms in the U.S. and Europe, there has not been one that extensively encompasses the LATAM region. In addition, while other platforms may cover their own infrastructure, they may not include off-net or third-party providers. GoldConnect incorporates its own network plus an additional 87 carriers in the region.

“The biggest achievement with LatamConnect is the time savings for our customers. LATAM is well known in the industry for being a complicated region for gathering pricing and technical information. Our advanced platform will help cut through that wait time,” said Justo Valladares, CEO of GoldConnect.

About GoldConnect

GoldConnect is a leading telecommunications provider with a presence in 17 countries in Latin America and The Caribbean. With more than 20 years of delivering network solutions to corporate clients and global carriers, GoldConnect relies on its fully owned award-winning network infrastructure and extensive partnerships to provide Network Solutions, Cloud Connection, Network Security and Data Center services in more than 33 countries in the region. For more information, please visit www.goldconnect.com.

Peppertree Capital and Goldman Sachs Accused of “Ruthless” Tactics in Latin America

By Kenneth Mwangi

Private equity firms don’t often make the news for good reasons, and today is no exception.

Apparently, Peppertree Capital Management, one of the largest private equity firms in Ohio, has teamed up with investment banking titan Goldman Sachs to allegedly try and attempt to screw over its local partners in a telecommunications towers venture working in countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, among other developing nations.

This is according to a Yahoo! News story about a lawsuit filed by Terra Towers, which alleges that as minority shareholders Peppertree violated its fiduciary duties by blocking “thousands” of tower development opportunities while at the same time secretly negotiating a merger with Torrecom, a competing firm.

“This complaint alleges a series of actions undertaken by the minorities in coordination with Torrecom to deprive the company of numerous profitable opportunities,” says Enrique Canton, an executive and spokesperson for Terra Towers. “We are surprised and disturbed that Torrecom’s leadership agreed to collude with Goldman and Peppertree. Like Peppertree, Torrecom is a private equity-backed entity whose leadership has a fiduciary duty to the institutional investors entrusting them with millions of dollars.”

“We are a family-owned group that has bet on the growth of the markets where we operate for more than 20 years. We are proud of having created thousands of jobs and partnering with carriers so they can offer telecommunications services across Latin America, contributing to our region’s sustained economic development,” the spokesman said in the press release. “These are outside actors with no real commitment to the long-term development of our region, and when they engage in this kind of ruthless, short-sighted corporate maneuvering, they hinder the economic growth of the emerging markets where we operate by rejecting thousands of projects that would’ve otherwise enabled carriers to expand their coverage into communities that desperately need better telecommunications services.”

It’s one thing to see consolidation in the telecommunications sector led by these private equity firms, but when these brute force tactics result in Latin American citizens not having access to bandwidth (especially for their children’s schooling in a pandemic), it is bound to attract criticism.

Mastercard to invest $100 mln in Airtel Africa’s mobile money unit

By Kenneth Mwangi

Global payment processor Mastercard Inc (MA.N) will invest $100 million in Airtel Africa’s (AAF.L) mobile money operations, valuing the business at $2.65 billion, the London-listed company said on Thursday.

Airtel Africa is targeting a public listing of Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) within the next four years. Earlier this month, private equity firm TPG’s The Rise Fund invested $200 million in AMC BV.

Mastercard will hold a minority stake in AMC BV, in line with Airtel Africa’s plan to monetise the mobile money business by selling up to a 25% stake in the unit, the company said.

The unit, operating under the Airtel Money brand in Africa, includes mobile wallets, merchant and commercial payments, virtual credit card and international money transfers available across 14 countries in the region.

Bulgaria’s Neterra Telecommunications breaks ground on second data center in Sofia

By Kenneth Mwangi

Bulgarian telecommunications company Neterra has broken ground on its second data center in the capital of Sofia.

The four-story, 1,400 square meter (15,000 sq ft) facility, known as Sofia Data Center 2 (SDC-2), is located opposite Neterra’s SDC-1 facility and is being built to Tier III Uptime standards. Construction is due for completion later in 2021.

It has 2MW of installed capacity, and the company says it plans to become carbon neutral by the end of 2021. Neterra says it already uses 100 percent clean energy for its operations.

“This is a long-term policy. If we are organized well enough, we can even become carbon negative. This is our responsibility to the environment and the planet. We provide our data center clients with the choice to use power from renewable sources, so they can become carbon neutral as well,” Neven Dilkov, CEO of Neterra Group recently said of the company’s sustainability goals.

SDC-2 is Neterra’s fourth data center. As well as the two in Sofia, it owns facilities in Stolnik and Ruse.

US $104.5m Tanzanite Bridge project in Tanzania 71.3% complete

By Kenneth Mwangi

The US $104.5m Tanzanite Bridge project in Tanzania is currently 71.3% complete. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Tanzania Roads Agency (TANROADS), Patrick Mfugale, the project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

“Construction of all 254 foundation pillars has been completed in tandem with the construction of platforms to facilitate the construction of a permanent bridge foundation,” the CEO told members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Infrastructure during a visit to the construction site.

Chairman of the committee Seleman Kakoso, commended the Ministry of Works and Tanroads for successfully implementing the project, saying they were more than happy to be told that a local contractor was supervising the work.

“We are pleased with the progress of this project as well as the capacity building program for local contractors so that when this construction is completed they will have the skills to implement the construction of other bridges,” said Kakoso who is also Mpanda Rural MP in Katavi region.

IHS Towers Announces Further Latin America Expansion Through Centennial Towers Acquisition

By Kenneth Mwangi

IHS Holding Limited (“IHS Towers”), one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count, has acquired Centennial Towers’ Brazilian and Colombian tower operations.

This acquisition brings an additional 602 towers in Brazil, and 217 towers in Colombia, strengthening IHS Towers’ position and core expertise in both markets. This latest transaction comes shortly after IHS Towers’ acquisition of Skysites in Brazil and is a testament to the company’s commitment to expanding its business in both Latin American markets. Centennial Towers has extensive expertise in providing mobile network operators with a wide range of infrastructure solutions including Build to Suit towers, Rooftops, Distributed Antenna Systems, Small Cells and Site Colocation & Leasing.

These recent acquisitions highlight and demonstrate the continuation of IHS Towers’ growth strategy and demonstrates its 20-year track record of growth and excellence in telecommunications infrastructure across emerging markets. IHS Towers has developed complete ecosystems around its towers including green energy, backhaul, monitoring and active equipment which will be leveraged across its new Latin American markets. This acquisition will further enhance IHS Towers’ customer offerings and ensure the company is well-positioned to support the upcoming roll-out of 5G by offering customers new locations for signal transmission and distribution, as well as supporting fiber deployment.

Sam Darwish, IHS Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Following our recent acquisition of Skysites in Brazil, I am delighted to announce the acquisition of a third Latin American tower operator. The addition of Centennial Towers’ Brazilian and Colombian operations adds scale to our IHS Towers Latin American portfolio and will further strengthen the deep expertise and solutions we can offer to current and potential customers in these markets. Latin America remains a key region for us with its high growth potential and, through these transactions, we will continue to increase our market presence and build on the momentum sparked by our initial entry into the region last year with the acquisition of Cell Site Solutions.”

Steven Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer, Centennial Towers, said: “We are thrilled to enter into this transaction with IHS Towers as they recognize the uniqueness of Centennial’s diverse asset base in these two countries, which are primed for high levels of growth due to their strategic locations and quality construction. Centennial’s strong client relationships and proprietary management information systems will assist IHS Towers in advancing their drive to significantly increasing footprint and colocation growth in Latin America for years to come.”

About IHS: IHS is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count, with more than 29,700 towers across nine markets. IHS continues to grow and develop its existing positions and offerings in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda and Zambia. For more information, please email: communications@ihstowers.com or visit: www.ihstowers.com

About Centennial Towers: Centennial Towers is an independent developer, owner and operator of wireless communications towers in Latin America, with current operations in Mexico consisting of approximately 800 towers. For more information, please visit: www.centennialsites.com

Lava Jato: See How Far Brazil’s Corruption Probe Reached

By Kenneth Mwangi

Brazil’s largest-ever corruption probe, known as the Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigation, exposed a web of graft across Latin America and beyond, rocking the political and economic establishment in more than a dozen countries.

What began in 2014 as a money-laundering investigation soon unearthed corruption at the highest levels of Brazil’s government and at companies including state-owned oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) and construction giant Odebrecht, now called Novonor, which offered bribes in exchange for contracts in Brazil and abroad. Lava Jato resulted in nearly 280 convictions, returned about $800 million to Brazilian state coffers, and sparked offshoot investigations around the world. Forty-one countries have formally asked Brazilian authorities for legal cooperation, and multiple former and current heads of state, most notably in Brazil and Peru, have been implicated.

Two presidents and several ministers have been charged. Meanwhile, the two sons of President Ricardo Martinelli face extradition from Guatemala to the United States.

Nonetheless, Brazil shuttered the task force behind Lava Jato in February 2021, with President Jair Bolsonaro arguing that graft within the government had been eradicated. (Some analysts contend that the real reason is the embattled Brazilian president feared he or his family members could be imprisoned.)

A group of people, several with their arms raised. One woman is holding a yellow and green sign above her head.

Demonstrators protest in support of Lava Jato in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 2019. Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

Bolsonaro isn’t the only one to criticize the probe, which has been undermined by allegations of political motivation. In 2019, leaked messages indicated Sergio Moro—the primary judge for Lava Jato cases and who later became Brazil’s justice minister—colluded with prosecutors. Brazil’s Supreme Court recently annulled former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s convictions and ruled that Moro exhibited bias in Lula’s case. The annulments clear the highly popular Lula to seek another presidential term; however, they do not affirm his innocence, and he could face trial in other courts.

Experts say Lava Jato’s downfall deals a blow to anticorruption efforts across Latin America. To give a sense of its unprecedented breadth, here are some of the major political and business leaders implicated in, investigated for, or imprisoned as a result of Lava Jato and related probes.