Malaysian engineering house, Austral Techsmith has joined forces with Norwegian telecommunication infrastructure company, GSM Towers, providing greater momentum for the two businesses to expand their footprint globally and tap new 5G infrastructure markets.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Austral Techsmith and GSM Towers was signed at the TowerXchange Meetup Asia 2022 in Singapore, recently. The signing was between Christian Stromme, chief executive officer of GSM Towers and Soh Chong Meng, chief operating officer of Austral Techsmith witnessed by Azfar Zubri Bin Datu Safri, the chief executive officer of Austral Techsmith.
As part of the MoU, the new partners will leverage on each other’s expertise and experience to pave a strong foundation and penetrate new 5G infrastructure markets. The venture will explore and globally expand Austral Techsmith’s proprietary 5G smart pole, ELAB01.
ELAB01 is an all-in-one innovation for 5G on-ground deployment using a single pole measuring 18 meters that can house multiple connectivities and IoT solutions such as 5G, 4G, wifi routers, power units as well as a smart streetlight function.
According to Precedence Research, the global 5G IoT market size is estimated to be worth approximately USD 297.1 billion by 2030 and growing at a registered CAGR of 70.04% over the forecast period 2022 to 2030.
Azfar Zubri bin Datu Safri, chief executive officer of Austral Techsmith said, ”We are elated to be collaborating with GSM Towers. 5G and its associated technologies have a multitude of compelling potential that can unlock new developments for numerous industries, proving to be a game-changer in industry transformation. This makes the global 5G market an opportunity-filled market that remains untapped.”
Austral Techsmith will resume the development of ELAB01 in Norway via the consortium. Jointly, they will also release new products under the 5G infrastructure umbrella called ELAB02, a multi-tenant smart pole that will be market-ready before year-end. Further, there are more developments on the roadmap to expand the hyper-connectivity product line during Q1 of 2023.
The agreement will put in force the movement of new ultra-connectivity products from Malaysia to the global market. Discussions for the sales of Austral Techsmith’s products in GSM Tower’s core markets are underway with primary targets in the Philippines through Phil-Tower Consortium Inc., a leading digital shared infrastructure provider in the Philippines.
Azfar Zubri added, “The collaboration with GSM Towers is a pivotal step forward as we embark on our expansion plans hand-in-hand. Phil-Tower will take the lead for the deployment of ELAB01 in the Philippines while we work towards on-site deployment for the first cluster of our eight pilot sites targeted between January and February 2023.”
Christian Strømme, chief executive officer of GSM Towers shared, “This partnership is a testament to GSM Towers’ excellence in bridging connectivity solutions through our core competencies and competitive edge that we continuously strive for and pride ourselves on. Our shared beliefs and vision to elevate 5G infrastructure has made it a no-brainer as to the formation of this synergistic partnership.”
“Since commencing work together, Austral Techsmith has displayed extensive industry proficiency and has far exceeded expectations. Our global supply chain will enable the seamless delivery of 5G solutions to all our markets across all continents. We look forward to converging our solutions and fortifying our 5G capabilities to power a more connected world.” Christian Strømme added.
Soh Chong Meng, Chief Operating Officer and lead for ELAB01 innovation and development at Austral Techsmith said, “Post-Covid recovery is still in debate in nearly all countries. This has caused the proliferation of new technologies across major industries which require heavy connectivity and bandwidth to support them. Our solution at Austral Techsmith, coupled with GSM Tower’s immense capabilities, will prime us for product capability enhancements to support more industries, helping them reimagine their opportunities.”