While Pakistan’s digital economy is flourishing, Tower Companies (Towercos) – the critical infrastructure providers enabling this transformation – face mounting operational challenges, including chronic power outages, escalating security threats, regulatory complexities, and rising operational costs.
The question is: Can Pakistani Towercos turn these struggles into strengths? What is holding back Towercos?
The Energy Crisis Bites Hard – “Bijli Naheen Hai”
Every Pakistani is familiar with the frustration of load shedding, but for Towercos, the challenge is even greater. Reliance on diesel generators drives up fuel consumption and increases operational costs by 30-40%. In remote regions like interior Sindh and Balochistan, where power outages exceed 14+ hours daily during peak summer, maintaining optimal tower performance is a daily battle.
Regulatory Hurdles – “Paperwork Pe Paperwork”
During new tower deployments, Towercos endure prolonged delays due to lengthy approval processes, unanticipated financial obligations, and federal/provincial levies, all of which hinder expansion and drive-up costs. Meanwhile, towers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), South Punjab, and Sindh face severe security challenges, including rampant copper theft, battery/generator theft, and extortion by local mafias. These threats force Towercos to allocate an additional 15-20% of their revenue to security, an unsustainable burden that severely undermines the business case.
Adding to these challenges, Pakistan’s fiber optic coverage also remains patchy, with rural areas that are particularly underserved. Without robust backhaul infrastructure, 4G speeds suffer, and 5G adoption remains a dream for the foreseeable future.
The silver lining is, “How the Towercos can fight back.”
Cut Diesel Dependence – “Solar Zindabad!”
Hybrid solar/diesel energy systems can slash fuel costs by up to 50%, and the use of battery storage combined with smart energy management can ensure 24/7 tower uptime without breaking the bank.
Sharing the tower – “Ek Tower, Sab Ka Faida”
Towercos have a significant revenue opportunity through multi-tenant tower sharing with telecom operators (Jazz, Ufone, Zong, and Telenor), which strengthens their business model. With proper planning and advanced preparations, these towers can additionally host non-telecom infrastructure such as CCTV systems, IoT sensors, and weather monitoring equipment. This passive infrastructure sharing creates additional revenue streams while optimizing asset utilization.
Rural Expansion is the need of the Hour -“Gaon Gaon Tower”
Despite 70% of Pakistan’s population residing in rural areas, mobile coverage remains inadequate. Strategic deployment of low-cost, small-scale towers, supported by government subsidies like the Universal Service Fund (USF) and public-private partnerships (PPPs), could effectively bridge this connectivity gap.
The time is now for future-proofing our digital infrastructure by investing in fiber backhaul to avoid network congestion, creating small-cell networks for dense urban areas (like Lahore, Karachi), and deploying Edge Computing for faster streaming, gaming, and fintech services.
To address these challenges, SMS Technologies leverages AI-powered solutions for pre-emptive maintenance that reduce equipment breakdowns. Our integrated platform provides real-time remote monitoring capabilities, significantly reducing theft incidents and security expenditures. Additionally, the system’s automated energy optimization feature brings measurable reductions in power consumption and associated costs.
The Bottom Line: Adapt or Get Left Behind
Despite facing significant operational challenges, Pakistani Towercos stand at the forefront of the country’s digital transformation. Through strategic adoption of renewable energy solutions, multi-tenant infrastructure sharing, AI-powered network optimization, and collaborative partnerships, these companies can transform current obstacles into growth opportunities while accelerating Pakistan’s transition to a booming economy.
The future of Pakistan’s digital economy depends on stronger tower infrastructure. The question is not that “Can we overcome these challenges?” but “How fast can we turn these challenges into opportunities?”
Published by SMS Technologies – Pioneering Smarter Telecom Solutions.
Author: Syed Azfer Iqbal
www.smstechnologies.co
