JTOWER and NTT East agreed tower carve outs for Infra-Sharing

JTOWER Inc. (“JTOWER”）and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (“NTT East”) have agreed to enter into the master transaction agreement for the sales of 136 telecommunications towers owned by NTT East to JTOWER.

The development of 5G networks, which will be responsible for social infrastructure in the future, is expected to require an enormous number of base stations compared to before 4G. To provide efficient and economical Infra-Sharing solutions that contribute to the telecommunications industry as a whole, JTOWER and NTT East have been looking into the effective use of existing towers, in addition to collaboration in the “The project to expand the installation of smart poles including operation and verification in Nishi-Shinjuku area in fiscal 2021” conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Starting from Q1 FY2022, NTT East will gradually transfer the existing tenancy agreement of each tower and deliver the asset to JTOWER.

<Image of tower carve outs transaction>

■Roles of each company
In addition to the indoor Infra-Sharing and the outdoor tower sharing, JTOWER has positioned the carve out of existing towers owned by telecommunications companies as one of the key growth strategies. Based on this strategy, in July 2021, JTOWER signed the master transaction agreement for the carve out of 71 towers owned by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation and this time, the company has determined that this carve out deal with NTT East will be an initiative based on its strategy. Going forward, JTOWER will further expand carve out transactions for telecommunications towers owned by telecommunications companies and as an Infra-Sharing provider, the company will strengthen its business activities to attract tenants such as telecommunications companies including mobile network operators. JTOWER believes those efforts will encourage the effective use of socially important telecommunications infrastructures and realize the early development of 5G networks, the optimization of capital expenditures, and the resolution of social issues such as the reduction of environmental impact. JTOWER will promote socially meaningful businesses that bring value to all stakeholders.

NTT East will provide JTOWER and telecommunications companies with assets owned by NTT East, such as optical fibers required for 5G networks and telephone office building spaces required for the installation of telecommunications equipment. In addition, NTT East will leverage its many years of experience in the telecommunications business to support operations such as the construction and maintenance of telecommunications networks, to contribute to the early development of 5G networks and the optimization of capital expenditures.

<Image of telecommunications tower>