Guess who owns most of Ireland's mobile network masts?

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There are many reasons I’d make a terrible journalist but probably the main one revolves around my relationship with facts. I find facts - on their own merits - terribly logical and altogether boring. Necessary but lacking in imagination. But, today, given the overcast sky, seems like a day for one or two facts.

Now, how this story began was by doing some research on the Irish Infrastructure Fund. The Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF) is a specialized investment fund established in 2011, at the tail-end of the Celtic Tiger bust, and a partnership between the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF), AMP Capital, and Irish Life Investment Managers. The primary objective was to invest in Irish infrastructure assets to generate returns while contributing to Ireland's economic recovery and development. Irish infrastructure for the benefit of Irish people and owned by Irish investment vehicles one would have assumed.

A curious detail emerged as a result of this search. In 2022, the Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF) sold a portfolio of three major Irish assets to the UK-based John Laing Group. These Irish assets include:

1. Convention Centre Dublin (CCD): Ireland's only purpose-built convention center, operating under a public-private partnership with the Irish Government's Office of Public Works.

2. Towercom: Ireland's largest independent telecommunications tower company, with a portfolio of 409 towers leased to major mobile network operators under long-term contracts.

3. Valley Healthcare: The largest primary care center operator in Ireland, managing 20 centers leased to the Health Service Executive (HSE) under long-term agreements.

Curious time to be asset selling, I thought, on first glance. Especially, the 8,000 capacity convention centre which was home to the houses of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann from June 2020 to July 2021. But, then again, the air-conditioning units in the place were putting a lot of our political class into a coma, so maybe the fire-sale health and safety issue and that’s why the national convention centre had to hit the high road.

Anyway, it was the sale of Towercom above that really grabbed my attention and diverted me down a different rabbit-hole.

Mobile phone masts and towers.

The exact number of 4G or 5G masts in Ireland is not explicitly known. However, as of August 2023, there were over 9,000 mobile phone base station sites in Ireland, which include masts for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G services.

ComReg provides details on the location and type of services provided by each mast and antennae but does not specify how many are exclusively for 5G. A slightly different question to ask in this realm is to enquire as to the number of mobile network towers in operation in Ireland and this answer can be calculated courtesy of the website Tower Xchange. Now, to encourage the reader to read on I will quickly answer the question posed by my headline.

Ireland’s mobile phone and wireless network infrastructure is controlled mostly by non-Irish players and the gargantuan international investment vehicles of Blackrock, Blackstone and Vanguard too.

Now, we need to do a little tiresome digging to get to these facts, but sure, they don’t call it Monday for nothing, I suppose. Funny thing, and a personal glitch, is that when I see one of the plethora of 4G/5G masts lining the highways and byways of Ireland I always assumed they were owned - in full - by the mobile network operators like Vodafone or Eir. Not so, anymore.

However, if we go back in time a little this was solidly the case. In 2016, approximately 60% of Ireland’s mobile mast infrastructure was owned by the major mobile phone companies - 60% of approx. 4,000 masts at the time - with the rest of the infrastructure operated by independent operators. But, by the end of 2024, the tower ownership picture had changed considerably. Changed utterly, you might say, if you were a man into the poetry of Yeats more than say eh… facts. But anyhow, let’s continue.

By December 2024, Ireland possessed over 6,000 mobile masts/towers with an ownership picture looking completely different than the pre-pandemic one and something as follows:

So, here in the present, we can see the top four independent, and non-Irish mobile tower operators own between 75% and 80% of Ireland’s network mast/tower infrastructure. None of these four are Irish owned. It strikes me, sitting here typing this, that the situation must surely create a national security risk for the Irish nation moving forward. Especially, when we pull back the covers a little more. Now, the eagle-eyed will notice the names Blackrock, Vanguard and Blackstone do not appear in the list above. Well, the simple reason for this fact is because these monopolistic behemoths operate at one step’s further remove from the plain-sight of Irish eyes.

But, let’s investigate a little shall we……

Towercom

If we examine each of the top four companies from the diagram above in further detail a clear painting emerges. I’ll begin with my original trigger point Towercom - and its new owners the John Laing group.

Well, actually, The John Laing group themselves were purchased by funds managed by KKR, a global investment firm. KKR completed its acquisition of the company in September 2021, in a deal valued at approximately 2 billion yoyos. And here’s where things get interesting. KKR & Co. Inc. (formerly Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) ownership model actually looks as follows:

• Institutional Shareholders: Approximately 43.25% of KKR's stock is owned by institutional investors such as Vanguard Group (6.33%), BlackRock (4.97%), and Capital International Investors (4.48%)

• Insiders: About 19.8% of the stock is held by insiders, including co-founders George Roberts (9.93%) and Henry Kravis (8.97%)

• Retail Investors: Retail investors hold approximately 36.94% of the company's shares

What is notable is that Ryan Stork, a former senior executive at BlackRock, joined KKR as its Chief Operating Officer in 2022, but this is unrelated to BlackRock's institutional ownership in KKR, of course. Just coincidental, don’t ya know.

Anyway remember KKR. Next up in Ireland’s big four of tower owners is Vantage Towers. Vantage Towers own approximately 1,300 mobile towers in Ireland.

Vantage Towers

As of 2023, the main shareholders of Vantage Towers AG are:

1. Oak Holdings GmbH: Holds 89.26% of the shares. Oak Holdings is a joint venture co-controlled by Vodafone, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and KKR.

2. Elliott Investment Management LP: Owns 5.019% of the shares

So, our old buddies KKR own a sizeable chunk of Oak Holdings to add to their acquisition of John Laing and by extension Towercom. I must note that Vodafone do retain an effective overall minority ownership of 44.7% through this structure. It is estimated KKR, as part of a consortium with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), owns 40% of Oak Holdings.

Cellnex & Phoenix Tower International.

By far the largest operator and owner of mobile mast infrastructure (1,900+) in Ireland was Cellnex. Cellnex Telecom, a Spanish infrastructure company, sold its entire Irish mobile tower business to Phoenix Tower International (PTI) for €971 million in March 2024. PTI, is a U.S.-based company headquartered in Florida. PTI has been expanding its presence in Ireland since 2020, when it acquired Eircom’s passive-infrastructure assets. Following the completion of this deal, PTI becomes the largest telecom tower operator in Ireland and who subsequent to the deal own approximately 3000 masts or half of Ireland’s mobile mast network.

Phoenix Tower International (PTI) has a diversified international ownership structure, primarily involving the same major institutional investors:

1. Blackstone Infrastructure Partners: Blackstone is the majority owner of PTI through its infrastructure-focused funds. In 2022, Blackstone acquired a 35% stake in PTI, solidifying its control.

2. Grain Management and BlackRock: These two entities recently became minority investors in PTI. Their strategic investment aims to support the company's global expansion.

3. Wren House Infrastructure Management: Wren House is a minority investor in PTI, having joined the ownership structure in 2022 to support its growth initiatives

Blackstone & Blackrock

BlackRock and Blackstone share historical roots but are now distinct entities with different focuses in the financial sector.

Shared Origins: BlackRock was initially founded under the umbrella of Blackstone in 1988 as "Blackstone Financial Management." Larry Fink and Ralph Schlosstein, who had expertise in fixed-income investments, joined Blackstone to manage this division. However, due to strategic disagreements between Larry Fink and Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone's co-founder), the two companies split in 1994. BlackRock became an independent asset management firm, while Blackstone focused on alternative investments like private equity and real estate135.

Key Differences Today:

BlackRock: Focuses on asset management, offering investment solutions like mutual funds, ETFs (notably iShares), and risk management services. It manages approximately $9 trillion in assets as of 2023, making it the largest asset manager globally

Blackstone: Specializes in alternative investments such as private equity, property, credit, and hedge funds. It manages over $1 trillion in assets as of 2024, positioning itself as the largest alternative investment firm.

Conclusions:

The last three years has seen a massive change in the ownership model of Ireland’s mobile network infrastructure. In almost every case the investment vehicles purchasing this infrastructure are hidden from view and actually being driven by huge, monopolistic global investment vehicles like Blackstone, Vanguard and Blackrock. Surely, the non-Irish ownership of our mobile infrastructure network is a massive national security risk to the people of this country. Especially, considering the fact the infrastructure is potentially controlled by a very small group of people and companies.

Why is the Irish Infrastructure Fund selling off assets to Global Investment Funds?

Are we selling off other strategic infrastructure assets in a similiar fashion?

Do our political class even know what the hell is going on?

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