Tower companies own almost three quarters of the mobile telecom installations globally and continue to grow. The main driver of this change is linked to the reduction of capital expenditures by operators and the increasing sharing of infrastructure by tower companies that improves their assets' tenancy ratios. In this article we review the history of tower company introductions in European markets, and compare the operator financial outcomes, along with the cost of services and market concentration that consumers experience. We also compare the wave of mergers during the same period in Europe, as an alternative cost-saving approach. We find that mergers primarily help operators improve their financial positions and EBITDA margin by 8.6 percentage points while consumers face significantly more concentrated markets with fewer options. Tower companies reduce average revenues per user by 1.41–1.79 Euros as increased tenancy ratios are passed-through to consumers, helping operators reduce their capital expenditures. We provide policy and market recommendations based on these findings.

中文翻译：

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移动网络中的铁塔公司与合并


铁塔公司拥有全球近四分之三的移动电信安装，并且还在继续增长。这一变化的主要驱动力与运营商减少资本支出以及铁塔公司增加对基础设施的共享有关，从而提高了其资产的租赁率。在本文中，我们回顾了铁塔公司在欧洲市场引入的历史，并比较了运营商的财务结果，以及消费者体验到的服务成本和市场集中度。我们还比较了欧洲同期的合并浪潮，作为一种节省成本的替代方法。我们发现，合并主要帮助运营商改善财务状况和 EBITDA 利润率 8.6 个百分点，而消费者面临的市场更加集中，选择较少。随着租户比率的提高转嫁给消费者，铁塔公司将每用户的平均收入减少了 1.41-1.79 欧元，帮助运营商减少了资本支出。我们根据这些调查结果提供政策和市场建议。