Vancouver-based Tower One Wireless further expanded its presence in Latin America with the construction of 14 towers for telecom operators in Colombia and Ecuador in December.

In 2022, the group installed a total of 172 towers in its main markets of Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. Activity peaked in August, when 26 new towers were erected.

With this, Tower One reached 348 towers in these 3 countries, with 382 tenants for the sites. Tenants refers to the number of customer leases per tower. For example, a customer’s rental space in five towers counts as five tenants.

In December, Tower One said it had set up seven towers in Colombia and Ecuador, all in a custom format. All sites have a 10 year lease period and have been projects green field. They are distributed in urban and rural areas.

The new towers in Colombia were assembled in Nuqui, Litoral del San Juan, Nóvita and Bajo Baudo (Chocó department), Ituango and Taraza (Antioquia) and Valle del Cauca (Cali department).

In Ecuador, all were deployed in the province of Guayas, in the cities of Durán, Daule, Samborondon and the provincial capital Guayaquil.

In addition to the 14 new custom towers, Tower One also reported that it has completed construction of six towers in both markets under the build-as-a-service model.

In this format, Tower One offers complete turnkey operations for clients, from site acquisition to onboarding.

The group’s main customers are Telefónica, which leases around 38% of its sites; WOM Colombia (31%); Tigo Colombia, from Millicom (24%); the Mexican Altán Redes (4%); Claro Colombia (3%); and DirecTV Colombia (1%).

Other customers include AT&T, in Mexico; and CNT, in Ecuador.

During the second quarter of 2022, the company received a $2.66 million loan from a local bank in Ecuador, of which $1.95 million is expected to be used to expand in the country. The loan is unsecured and bears interest at 11% per annum.