3185: 5G, Sustainability, and Infrastructure: A Conversation with Vantage Towers

[00:00:03] Quick question for you all. Have you ever thought about the technology behind that seamless connectivity we have on our devices that we rely on every single day, whether in a bustling city, in a remote rural area, or on a train?

[00:00:19] Well, my guest today is the CEO of a company called Vantage Towers. And they're a company at the forefront of Europe's digital transformation. They've got a portfolio of more than 86,000 towers spanning 10 markets. And Vantage Towers is playing a pivotal role in enabling seamless connectivity for businesses, communities, and users like you and I and devices across the continent.

[00:00:44] And Christian is going to share his insights today from his impressive career in the telecom sector and how his leadership at Vantage Towers is driving innovation in mobile infrastructure. So we'll cover everything from the progress of 5G deployment in Europe, the importance of connected societies, and the role of sustainable practices, including renewable energy trials in shaping the future of telecommunications.

[00:01:11] So what is next for the future of connectivity? How can infrastructure adapt to meet those increasing demands that we all have when we just expect that connection? Let's find out now. So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:31] Yes. Good morning, Neil. My name is Christian Hillbrandt. I'm the CEO here at Vantage Towers. We're one of Europe's largest tower companies with 86,000 towers across 10 markets. What we do here is we build towers in building systems, small cells, and provide services to operators. And our mission is to really power Europe's sustainable digital transformation, which we're proud to be a part of.

[00:01:57] I lead a large, ambitious team here that really looks to embrace these opportunities on behalf of customers and starting to be a part of the technologies that are going to shape the future of connectivity. So we play an integral part in that ecosystem, and it's a pleasure to be here today. Awesome. It's a pleasure to have you with me. And every day on this podcast, I try and get people thinking differently about the world of technology, how it surrounds us and impacts us in ways that we don't fully appreciate sometimes or maybe even take for granted.

[00:02:26] So for yourself at Vantage Towers, what is your overarching mission and vision for Vantage Towers? Because there's so much technological change at the moment. What is your big focus and what is that overall mission? Yeah, well, our strategy fundamentally is to enable connectivity amongst consumers and to support sustainable digitalization across Europe. We do this by deploying advanced mobile infrastructure at scale and at speed.

[00:02:55] It's something that traditionally was done by the mobile network operators and now has transitioned over to companies like ours, which are focused on providing this digital infrastructure. We try to make sure that we have reliable, always-on mobile connectivity for our customers. So oftentimes we'll oversee not just the building of the sites, but also the maintenance and providing always-on mobile connectivity is critical infrastructure.

[00:03:25] And therefore, we believe the work that we do transforms the way that people work and communicate and interact with that technology in a way that enhances their everyday lives. It's something like you mentioned a second ago. People don't really see us. We survive in the background. Yet we're just as critical as, say, like the power company or the water company in providing these essential services to enable folks to live their lives every day.

[00:03:50] It's such a good comparison because we automatically put a plug in or turn on a tap and just expect everything to come through. And technology is exactly the same now until Wi-Fi goes down in any office or home. Then you quickly get to hear about it. But, I mean, as for yourself, can you tell me a bit more about your career and the reason that you got into the telecom sector? Because before we started recording today, we were talking, I'm over here in the UK. You're in Dusseldorf. Obviously, you come from the US originally.

[00:04:19] So I feel there's got to be a bit of a story there too. There is. And later I'll answer a question for you of a personal mentor that inspired me in my career that got me in this part of the industry. But I'm 29 years into the telecom sector. I've had senior roles at T-Mobile in the USA as an operator.

[00:04:41] I've worked for Ericsson, the OEM, both in the US and abroad, leading their European operations. I work with Samsung on the mobile handset side of the business. And as a leader in the business world, I'm somebody that has really a proven track record of delivering business results, which is why I've been able to move from company to company. Most recently, prior to this job, I was COO of Tillman Infrastructure,

[00:05:10] which is a US-based tower co that has been a very big disruptive presence in there. The US market is dominated by three very large tower co's in that market. And then you had Tillman Infrastructure and others that play in that space that are starting to take away a market share. So for me, literally the reason why I'm in telecom is I had somebody that made me an offer to come into a venture capital-related startup.

[00:05:37] And what I realized very early on in my career was that the part that I was most attracted to was the building of networks and that digital infrastructure. To me, the ability to design, build, and operate networks and infrastructure at scale was something that really appealed to me. I, my, my, literally my kids, as they were growing up, used to laugh at me because we would go driving on a family drive, a country drive on the, on the Sunday.

[00:06:06] And I'd literally point to tower saying, I built that tower kids. I built that tower kids. And of course they'd say, well, you didn't actually build them dad. But I say, yeah, well, I was responsible for the team that built those. So for me, that was something that really, I found my calling, so to speak, in, in doing this work. And at the end, as I grew through my career and as I rose through the ranks, what I found was this ability to help businesses scale and drive their networks to roll out new technologies.

[00:06:32] I've now seen 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, each of these rollouts successively. I've been able to watch their impact. And as, as we all talked about a little bit earlier, you look at the change of people's lives through mobile devices, the services that have now been unleashed here with, with 5G. And it's just great to be a part of that ecosystem. So it's something that's fueled me throughout my career and is really a passion project as much as it is a job.

[00:07:00] And of course, every industry at the moment has been upended. The pace of technological change continues to race ahead. What would you say are the main opportunities and indeed challenges that are impacting the mobile industry at the moment? There must be a lot of changes you're seeing. There really is.

[00:07:18] It's actually, it's one of the reasons why this is a great business and where being the leader of Vantage Towers is such a great job because there are so many opportunities as well as challenges that keep us busy here. On the opportunity side, what we look at is there's an insatiable increasing demand for seamless and reliable mobile connectivity. And this is across residential, it's across commercial, and it's across transportation or mobility environments.

[00:07:47] And as those needs grow, tower companies like Vantage have this unique opportunity to expand our role in delivering high-quality tower infrastructures or in-building infrastructures and enabling that connectivity in both urban and rural areas and along those critical transportation networks.

[00:08:07] And you would be surprised, despite all the progress that we've made over 20, 30 years in the wireless mobile industry, there are still many areas which are critically underserved. And so for us, this represents a huge opportunity. We have a huge pipeline of growth that will keep us busy somewhere between 80% plus of the revenue that we expect in our business plan.

[00:08:31] We already have line of sight to, we just need to execute as a business smartly and at scale with cost-effective and efficient ways of doing business. One thing that specifically we find interesting, because I mentioned transportation a second ago, is around some of the large-scale programs that are now coming to bear across the EU in individual markets. One example is the GINT or the Gigabit Innovation Track.

[00:08:59] This is something where we have a trial currently ongoing here in Germany with both Telefonica and Ericsson as partners, and where we're growing and building out coverage along the German railways. And again, while there's Wi-Fi on trains and there's mobile connectivity in many places, there are still gaps. And it's hard if you're commuting, say, from Berlin to Dusseldorf, and you're taking that train ride expecting to be able to work seamlessly and carry on conversations.

[00:09:28] There are still gaps that need to be fixed. And so we're looking at how do we help address those coverage gaps. And again, I also forgot to mention Deutsche Bahn, obviously, is a partner in there, and we're working closely with them. This is about meeting customer expectations, aligning to the government priorities, and to capitalize on the growing demand. I mentioned a second ago for connectivity on these major transportation corridors.

[00:09:51] This is a whole new wave of growth outside of the tradition, urban, suburban, rural coverage around homes and businesses, and something that we find very exciting into the future. I'm glad you raised that, because over here in the UK, one of my big bugbears is I get a train from Birmingham here in the UK to London, Euston. And the Wi-Fi on the train is pretty much unusable most of the time.

[00:10:16] And you've even got a super fast 5G speed in certain areas, and then absolutely nothing. We've talked about 5G for the last few years, but can you tell me a bit more about the progress that you've seen in 5G deployment right across Europe? And how does that compare with the US as well?

[00:10:35] Yeah, I think if you look at the data that we saw, and I think one of the Ericsson's mobility report, which is kind of a tome of measurement of overall progress, 5G coverage is, I think, was projected to reach somewhere around 80% across Europe in 2024. But the mid-band coverage that really enables that high-speed wow experience to stream data and have high-speed connectivity was only around 45%.

[00:11:04] So there's still a huge effort that's getting invested in not just building new 5G coverage with what we call low-band, which provides the breadth of coverage, but then also the depth of coverage, which allows those high-speed customer wow experiences. The mid-band provides that. And so there's a huge push to upgrade existing sites in addition to the building of new sites to provide that depth of coverage.

[00:11:31] 5G in general, we see this huge transformational potential across industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. But in order to realize the benefits, you need both the breadth and the depth of that 5G coverage to be able to provide that. Now, there are some real challenges that exist. There's the high cost of the rollout itself. Post-COVID, we've seen costs across the industry explode. The cost of services explode.

[00:11:59] There's the challenge of community buy-in where the local regulatory community agencies that approve sites need to buy in onto building into specific areas. You have to overcome this NIMBY or not in my backyard where people don't like this. But again, much like putting in water systems or sewers or power lines, this critical infrastructure is required in order to enable this 5G services. And therefore, we need to find a way to do that.

[00:12:26] And then energy efficiency is becoming a huge issue these days. The cost of power, particularly here across Europe, has gone up dramatically. We work closely along with the OEMs like the Ericsson's and the Nokia's and the Samsung's. We work very closely with the operators themselves in order to find ways to supply lower cost and efficient green energy solutions.

[00:12:53] So as an example, we have 100% renewable power that we use across our portfolio. We've also been active in actually deploying trials both for solar and for wind-powered turbines as a way of looking at sustainable power solutions of the future and relying our reliance on the traditional energy grid.

[00:13:15] The other thing I would say, if you look at Vantage Towers, we have these hurdles, but we're dedicated to overcome them and to do this more efficiently. Part of the role of a tower company is not just to provide coverage for your primary or anchor customer. So we might be building a tower for Vodafone or for Telefonica. But in the end, we have what is called shared infrastructure.

[00:13:41] And therefore, we help reduce costs and the environmental impact of building additional towers because every site we build typically has the ability to take on additional carriers onto that site. And this really lessens the environmental impact and allows a speed and rollout for others. One person may have a desire to provide coverage there. Other competitors may as well.

[00:14:04] And because we're building future-proof infrastructure, we allow both the current infrastructure and then the next generation technologies to be built for all customers in a given area, which I think is a really important role that we play in the ecosystem. And if we look at your work from a commercial perspective, not sure how much you're going to be able to share here on our podcast, but what are your commercial priorities for this year?

[00:14:31] Anything you can share around that and what excites you at the moment? Yeah. So, I mean, again, not to be repetitive here, but the growing mobile data usage and connectivity demand is driving a huge portion of our growth. And we're committed to evolving as our customers' needs evolve by delivering new back road towers. So, these are the tall towers that you see with the antenna and cellular equipment.

[00:15:01] We're focused in on co-location. So, taking our existing sites that we've already built and marketing them both to the mobile network operators and to new customers. And there's a lot of activity now with new entrants that have new services that they're trying to enable. We use our current infrastructure to market to them. And then a new area for us, not necessarily a new area within the industry, is around indoor coverage solutions.

[00:15:25] So, if you think about your traditional airports or arenas for football providing coverage into these areas, this is what we're focused in on delivering for our current customers. A big portion of the work that we do, because many of the towers that were built in the past were not built for multiple operators to put their equipment on them, we're actively upgrading all of our towers across each of our markets.

[00:15:49] And this will ensure that the infrastructure is ready for new entrants into the marketplace, but also for the next generation of equipment that I mentioned a second ago. For us, the exciting areas are really the transportation hubs. There's money that's been made available across the EU and in individual countries that we operate, which are focused on providing connectivity on these corridors.

[00:16:16] And again, it's not just railways, but it's also highways that we're focused in on. And then there's this, typically as part of the spectrum allocation for operators, there is a requirement to provide white space coverage and to build out in rural underserved areas where maybe the population density isn't as high. And so, for us, this is another new area of growth for us. I'm really proud and happy to say that we have a very robust sales pipeline.

[00:16:43] And that, again, our bigger challenge is just executing at scale and cost effectively. And where we're focused on is how do we transform as a business to provide not only coverage solutions everywhere for our customers, but how do we become really a cost-effective solution for them? There's tremendous pressure across the industry to reduce costs. And we want to be one of those leaders along the way in transforming the cost and the value that we provide for our customers.

[00:17:12] And during our conversation, one of the trends today is we've mentioned everything from railways to highways to airports. Is it fair to say that connectivity on transportation is becoming a massive priority to meet those demands? It is. I mean, if you think about, again, highways and railways in modern society is really the light blood of the economic activity and personal mobility. We talked about your experience on the train.

[00:17:37] And I'll pass that on, by the way, to the head of Cornerstone, which is a joint venture that we have with VMO2 in the UK. Look, historically, there's a number of places that have long lacked connectivity. And they create dead zones for passengers and emergency services.

[00:17:54] And so for us is by focusing on transportation connectivity, we not only address those challenges, but then we also lay the groundwork for smarter and safer and more inclusive mobility in the future in these areas. And so it's something that we see as a huge opportunity. We continue to invest. You heard about the GINT program. We have a number of different programs underway.

[00:18:19] The biggest challenge for us is just to make sure that the funding is there because these are not always the most profitable sites for the mobile network operators. And therefore, it requires a public-private partnership in some cases to make sure that the funding is available to actually cover all of these white space areas. And are there any other business or consumer demands that either keep you up at night or excite you that the industry is trying to meet? Because I would imagine it's something that's continuously evolving.

[00:18:47] And what was maybe those consumers and businesses were demanding last year might be different this year, especially with the thirst of AI on our devices as well. Any changes there or anything else? Any other demands that you're raising to me? Yeah, I think you raise a good point. So one of the things we were talking about a little bit earlier being in the office today on Friday, this is not always the norm.

[00:19:09] The whole work-from-home trend that started back with the pandemic but has continued in more of a hybrid and sometimes remote working environment has meant that operators and therefore infrastructure providers like Vantage need to be able to fortify the coverage and capacity in the areas.

[00:19:28] It's not just that you have the connectivity at home, but with everybody streaming with video conferences and the like is the capacity and that mid-band 5G upgrade activity has become really, really important. And so we're working to both meet that demand efficiently and to work to have it there in time. I think the second thing is around with B2B customers and the digitalization that's going on, you mentioned AI a second ago, is the huge bandwidth requirements that are there.

[00:19:58] We're going to see, we believe, more edge computing, which is where the computing power goes from a centralized network hub of data centers and moves out closer to the cell sites. This has already started to pick up steam in the U.S. I would expect to see something very similar here in Europe and therefore we need to be able to start to work through and provide those additional services and capabilities for our customers.

[00:20:25] Bottom line, our role as a tower co is to enable our enterprise customers to meet those digital service needs into the future. So it's an exciting time to watch how the industry continues to grow and expand. And again, our role is a vital part of the ecosystem. Well, thank you so much for coming on here today and sharing your insights.

[00:20:50] And before I let you go, we've talked a lot about your personal story and your career that has took you from the U.S. to Europe. And of course, none of us are able to achieve any degree of success without a little help along the way. Very often we encounter people on that journey that see something in us, invest a little time and is maybe even mentor us in our career. So is that a particular person that maybe you're grateful towards, helped you get you where you are, played a part or just someone we could give a little shout out and a thank you to today? Yeah.

[00:21:20] Thanks, Neil, for the opportunity. Look, none of us would be able to move our careers forward if we didn't have supporters along the way, mentors that we looked up to. And something that's not well known about me because I don't really advertise it. But when I first got out of school, I actually worked in Washington, D.C. in politics. I worked on Capitol Hill. I worked in a couple of presidential campaigns. And during one of those campaigns, I had the opportunity to meet now U.S. Senator Mark Warner from Virginia,

[00:21:49] somebody who's been a technology executive and venture capitalist early in his life, but then made a transition into politics and was, I think, first governor of Virginia. And then later has been the senator, now senior senator from Virginia. Mark is somebody that took a risk on me. He met me in the course of – met at a political fundraiser, which I was hosting for him.

[00:22:12] And later he brought me on to work for him in the Democratic Party of Virginia where I was his chief fundraiser with the promise that if I did a good job and helped him be successful, he would help me to get a job in one of his venture capital-based startups, Columbia Spectrum Management. And from there, from a kid that didn't know much, wasn't an engineering major, didn't know anything about telecommunication systems,

[00:22:41] he took a chance on me. He hired me. I was the number three employee in this startup. They sent me into training with Belcor where I got deep technical training around microwave technology and the telecom systems in the U.S. And from that, it led to a series of jobs that eventually went through Verizon, T-Mobile, who I mentioned before, Ericsson, Samsung, Tillman, to where I am today here at Vantage Towers.

[00:23:07] And so I look back and my time working with Mark very fondly. But more importantly, the ability that he took a risk on a kid that didn't know telecom at a very early time in the industry was something that I'll never forget and I'll ever be grateful for. And what he taught me was that you can use your life experience, no matter what that is, and apply that into different roles. Two is that, you know, you stay true to yourself.

[00:23:35] You balance your business life with family. He was a big family man. He had three daughters and a wife that he had to juggle amongst his political duties. And then also a willingness to take business risks. Venture capitalism is not for the faint of heart. Nine out of ten businesses that get founded fail. And he showed me what resilience meant and risk-taking meant, particularly smart, calculated risk-taking. And that's followed me throughout my career and has led me to where I am today.

[00:24:03] So big, big shout out to Mark for taking a chance on a kid that led me to become CEO of one of Europe's largest tower companies today. I have a lot to be thankful for. Wow, what an incredible story.

[00:24:16] And I really hope that Mark gets to hear this because I suspect that even he is blissfully unaware of just taking a chance on a kid outside of telecom that knew nothing about it would cause this ripple effect and put you on this journey to this hugely successful career that you've enjoyed. So quick shout out to Mark. And hopefully he doesn't get to hear this. I think it's so important that we share stories like this.

[00:24:40] And for everybody listening that wants to hear more about you, about Vantage Towers, the work that you're doing, and anything we discussed today, anywhere you'd like to point everyone listening? Yeah, I'd just say the best way to follow Vantage Towers is through our LinkedIn page.

[00:24:54] And if you're interested in myself on my personal LinkedIn page, I think we've tried to be quite prolific about documenting not only our journey as a tower company or having been newly formed four years ago and talking about what we're doing both in terms of sustainability, in terms of investing in customers, and leading these teams. This is the best way to reach out to either Vantage or myself. We're proud of the company we are.

[00:25:22] We think we're an exciting industry. We love the fact that we're part of the ecosystem that provides more communications and enables people to stay in touch with their friends, family, day or night. And sometimes I have to pinch myself because I'm here leading this great company with so much of a bright future ahead of us.

[00:25:43] Well, as I said at the beginning of our podcast, one of the things I love doing is getting people thinking differently about how technology impacts our world. And some of that technology we do take for granted. So the big takeaway for me today is learning more about your infrastructure and your technologies, how they're creating better connections in this ever-evolving digital world that we find ourselves,

[00:26:05] and learning more about those 86,000-plus towers across 10 markets that are accelerating digitization of all our communities. Fantastic stuff. And also another shout-out to Mark for being a big part of that as well that he's probably unaware of. But thanks for sharing your story today. Thanks, Neil. Pleasure to be here today. I think as we conclude our conversation with Christian today, it's clear that Vantage Towers is not just providing infrastructure,

[00:26:31] but it's paving the way for a more connected and sustainable Europe. From their ambitious 5G rollouts to innovation in renewable energy and shared infrastructure models, the company is leading the charge in addressing the critical connectivity that we all need and expect today, but also indeed tomorrow. And I think Christian's vision for a digital transformed Europe is both inspiring and practical in equal measure,

[00:26:57] because he's highlighting the importance of collaboration, adaptability, and forward thinking in overcoming some of those challenges and embracing opportunities. But what are your thoughts on the role of connectivity in shaping our future? And how can companies like Vantage Towers continue to push the boundaries of what's possible? Love to hear your perspectives on this. I invite you to join the discussion. Let me know your thoughts. Techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:27:24] Remember, connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, just at Neil C. Hughes. Share with me your big takeaways. And also, don't forget, you are cordially invited to join me again tomorrow morning, and we'll have another guest and another topic. Speak with you all then. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now.