TowerCo Alliance Aims to Boost Bangladesh’s Digital Backbone
In a significant step toward enhancing Bangladesh's digital infrastructure, four licensed tower-sharing companies—edotco Bangladesh, Summit Towers, Frontier Towers, and ATC Tower—have come together to form a new alliance, “TowerCo Build Forward Forum.”
The forum was officially launched on Thursday, July 17, at a ceremony held at The Westin Dhaka. A panel discussion titled “Unifying TowerCos for a Smarter Bangladesh” marked the highlight of the inauguration event.
Major General (Retd.) Md. Emdadul Bari, Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), attended the event as the chief guest. Top executives from the four TowerCos participated in the panel to discuss the challenges and future priorities of the telecom infrastructure sector.
Speakers welcomed BTRC’s new licensing project and the proposed National Infrastructure and Connectivity Service Provider (NICSP) framework as timely and forward-looking. They emphasized that while the initiative could contribute to building an inclusive and efficient infrastructure, certain regulatory complexities still need to be addressed for smoother implementation.
Participants also raised critical, long-standing challenges, including site acquisition complexities, the need for sustainable energy solutions, disparities in DAS and IBS systems, inadequate indoor coverage, and the growing problem of battery theft. The forum called for unified standards, stronger public-private coordination, and sustainable investment strategies.
Sunil Isaac, Country Managing Director of edotco Bangladesh, remarked, “Investors are now focusing on market certainty, policy predictability, and ecosystem coherence. Timely decision-making can bring strategic capital into the TowerCo sector and improve the overall quality of the national telecom network. This will also reduce the cost of digital access and usage.”
Mohammad Sirajus Salehin, CEO of Frontier Towers, added, “Tower acquisition and uninterrupted power supply are just some of the challenges we are facing in this sector. In this context, the TowerCo Association is a timely platform to collectively address those issues.”
In his keynote speech, BTRC Chairman Emdadul Bari urged the companies to advance the sector through mutual collaboration. He said, “As the driving force of the digital economy, the telecom industry must foster coordination and cooperation among its stakeholders. Through the proposed NICSP policy, we are ensuring transparency and opening doors to new business opportunities. We are also prioritizing performance benchmarks to evaluate and monitor the efficiency of existing operators.”
The forum signals a concerted industry-wide effort to reinforce the country’s telecom infrastructure and digital connectivity in line with national ambitions.
