http://www.slideshare.net/ihstowers/issam-darwish-cofounder-of-ihs-towers-speaks-to-forbes-africa

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, IHS Towers CEO, Sam Darwish, explains the current boom in demand for mobile telecommunications towers across Africa and reveals the company’s plans to expand to 30,000 sites.

While 60 per cent of Africa is connected via voice communications, Sam Darwish explains that less than ten per cent have data connectivity and he expects demand to grow by ten times over the next decade.

The CEO reflects on the fact that Africa’s economic growth has been in part transformed by mobile telecommmunications’ expansion in the region. He gives the example of Nigeria, which has increased from having only 300,000 telephone lines in 2001 to seeing 90 million mobile phones being used across the country. The spread of smartphones, he says, is the next level of connectivity in Africa.

Sam Darwish believes that the key for IHS Towers’ success is encouraging mobile communications operators to continue to share towers in order to effectively divide costs and improve ROI. Clear side benefits in reducing the carbon footprint as only a single, shared network is built and diminishing the visual blight over our beautiful continent are self evident.

Its focus on greener energy sources has also been instrumental. IHS Towers’ championing of the use of solar systems and the reduction of diesel consumption has led to the company using 30% less of the fossil fuel in under a year, a move Sam Darwish considers important for maintaining its service and improving operations.