Actis rebrands Telekom Srbija antenna towers - Connectis Tower announces the portfolio expansion in the region

The London-based company Actis, which bought 1,800 antenna towers from Telekom Srbija at the end of last year, announced the launch of the Connectis Tower brand.

This global investor in sustainable infrastructure announced that the brand, including a portfolio of 1,800 antenna masts, will be launched with the aim of being the leading independent platform for this infrastructure type in the Balkans, managing around 1,000 antenna masts in Serbia, 700 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 100 in Montenegro.

The company also announced the expansion of its existing portfolio in the region, starting this year.

Connectis Tower will be led by Bogdan Djukic as general manager. Actis points out that he is an experienced leader in the telecommunications and infrastructure industry, with over 17 years of experience.

Prior to this position, Djukic was the general director of EuroTeleSites in Serbia and Slovenia. Previously, he held various management positions at Ericsson (Serbia and Montenegro), and he led the network development strategy at A1 in Serbia (formerly Vip Mobile).

His team at Connectis Tower will be joined by Jovana Nikolic as financial director, with over 17 years of experience in auditing, financial management and corporate finance. Nikolic's career began as an auditor in the consulting firm KPMG, and that she is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Association of Financial Directors of Serbia.

Actis states that under their leadership, Connectis Tower will be ideally positioned as an independent platform to manage an optimized antenna tower portfolio that meets the needs of Balkan network operators, reserving tower space in prime locations and supporting operator growth and reliable service delivery.

He points out that independent mast operators offer significant benefits to the sector, as they provide a shared infrastructure that reduces operational and capital costs, allowing operators to focus on quality of service rather than infrastructure management.

- The result is a model that promotes faster deployment of new technologies, such as 5G, and facilitates widespread connectivity while minimizing the impact on the environment by reducing the physical intertwining of network infrastructure - the statement said.

Actis states that the new company, with headquarters in Belgrade and offices in Banja Luka and Podgorica, will seek to provide services which support better functioning and more inclusive and connected economies, by bringing and maintaining rural populations online and through sustainable local economic development.

Bogdan Djukic stated that the company has ambitious plans to expand its portfolio of antenna towers in the region in the coming years and to provide more opportunities to improve services to Balkan network operators.

Jaroslava Korpanec, partner and head of the energy infrastructure sector for Central and Eastern Europe at Actis, said that the announcement of the Connectis Tower brand and the possibility of creating the best platform for antenna towers, is deeply rooted in the Balkans.

- It represents an exciting investment for Actis - concluded Korpanec.

To remind our readers: the price of Telekom Srbija's sale of antenna masts was not specified, but in January Actis announced that with this investment, the eighth in a row in the field of digital infrastructure, it has invested over USD 1 billion in this sector.

The UK-based company also signed a long-term contract with Telekom Srbija as the chief tenant of the poles.

The public has been divided over this move by Telekom Srbija ever since it became known. Some experts stated that these poles are a strategic infrastructure that should not have been renounced, but the CEO of Telekom Srbija, Vladimir Lucic, stated that the sale of poles is a global trend.

When asked if the sale is profitable in the longer run, because Telekom will now have to rent the poles, Lucic answered affirmatively and added that telecom companies throughout Europe would not be doing the same, if it was not profitable.

B. P.

Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd

Actis

Connectis Tower

Telekom Srbija

Bogdan Djukic

Jovana Nikolic

Jaroslava Kopranec

antenna towers

sale

rebranding

portfolio expansion

5G

antenna mast lease