As 5G mobile technology is just getting ramped up throughout North America, meeting the needs of installing new and exciting transformational infrastructure to support 5G – quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively – is of course, of vital importance.
Eastower Wireless (
TSX-V.ESTW,
Forum) is recently publicly-listed telecommunications company specializing in not only maintaining current 4G networks, but also earmarked for building out next generation 5G network – in addition to one of the largest infrastructure
and least known plays – called First-Net.
The company currently boasts a diverse, top-tier customer base, such as top telecom providers, the largest tower owned and operated companies, as well as global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s), which Eastower believes will build a strong, revenue-generating business model.
In this exclusive video Q&A interview, Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson met up with the company’s President & Chief Executive Officer, Vlado Hreljanovic, to introduce our investor audience to this intriguing, new telecom play.
(CLICK IMAGE TO PLAY VIDEO)
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: To start off with, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your history, and –most importantly – your company?
VLADO: Sure. I've been involved in the wireless telecommunication space for well over 20 years. My career started with KPMG out of New York City, they're largest accounting firm. So I had a good understanding of driving numbers that reflect performance and obviously accountability. Over the last two decades working in the wireless space, I've not only played a role in building the telecommunication infrastructure here in the Southeast US but also built many deep and meaningful connections with most of the national customers. Which obviously I think are critically important for decision making.
SH: Can you update our investor audience and your Eastower shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.
VLADO: I will say that firstly, this is such an exciting space to be in. COVID actually geometrically pushed it forward. It certainly had a great progress in the digital adoption in a big way, whether it's buying goods, shared interaction including zoom, it just created a lot of new avenues that weren't there before. Everything and everyone went digital. COVID essentially added and advanced the mobile communication online marketplace by years, in my opinion. I was going to say that this revolutionary digital adoption requires an entire new infrastructure plan to support it and that's where we at EasTower are direct beneficiaries of this enormous progress. So we're extremely excited about it.
SH: How and why is 5G different than 4G and can you unpack the benefits of it?
VLADO: Sure. 5G became the next generation of telecommunication. It's delivery is next to zero latency and that's the critical part between 4G and 5G, the latency because 4G is very fast going forward but very slow coming back. 5G, there is no latency and that's what makes 5G so exceptional today. We are on the brink of really changing the network society, how we play, how we work, how best we ultimately communicate with each other and define many other things that we don't even know at this point and you could see all the applications that are coming about every day, create new ways of whether the way we think or whether we apply them, which we didn't do that before. So 5G has really expanded opportunities and then what we believe very strongly is that 5G could be even bigger than the internet. Driverless cars, smart cities, this all cannot exist without 5G. So as they say, 5G equate to the next industrial revolution.
SH: What exactly is 5G home internet and what kind of value and opportunity does this technology represent to the average investor?
VLADO: Well, it’s huge. We are no longer talking about laying miles and miles of fiber optic cable. This is now all wireless, as long as there is an established hub set up for 5G, small nodes and small node distribution. We can have the internet in all the rural areas. We can install and set up networks at home and all of this can be delivered wirelessly, whether in rural areas and that is a big, big plus.
SH: The Company looks set for strong growth in 2022 & primarily 2023 as a pure play 5G infrastructure company. How well are you positioned to grow operations to meet demand, visa vis the skyrocketing demand from telcos to get not only new towers built, but build out small node 5G antennas across America?
VLADO: Well, as I mentioned earlier, we have a very well-established relationship with national telecoms, national tower owners and national original equipment manufacturers which you mentioned earlier and that gives us a very large footprint for the future. They are actively seeking our help to build this 5G infrastructure. In addition to that, with funding that we just received through our most recent going public transaction, we are very well positioned to now advance our business plan and build both organic and then look to roll up acquisition opportunities. This is a very exciting time for EasTower.
SH: EasTower is currently operating in the large state of Florida with a population of 21 million people and planning to expand to additional southeastern U.S. states. What kind of future development and progress can investors expect beyond these regions, Vlado?
VLADO: This is a great question. Personally, I'd like to state, we are operating within one of the largest states in America, population wise and if you look at the population it is consistently growing every year. We have operated in other states, including Oklahoma and Kentucky. We are currently focusing to build our presence larger in Florida because now we have, you mentioned earlier FirstNet, you mentioned 5G and we have the new site builds. So all of this we can evolve in the state of Florida. Florida is probably, I would say over a hundred-million-dollar potential market. After we develop all the protocols in Florida, we plan to expand in Southeastern US, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee and even later on focus on Texas.
SH: U.S. President Joe Biden has earmarked a $65 billion-dollar infrastructure bill to buildout high-speed bandwidth to all of the country, particularly rural areas. How important is this legislation for EasTower?
VLADO: The approval of the $65 billion-dollar government bill really sets the stage. America's a country that realizes we are so far behind on the build out of 5G, China, Korea, they are so well ahead of us. There is so much work to be done, which includes rural areas and metropolitan areas in America. So this opportunity with the government approval is something spectacular for us.
SH: What separates EasTower from the competition and makes your business model unique?
VLADO: Well, that's a good question. Thank you. I believe EasTower is one of the very few, I think it's probably the only company that is public company in the junior stock market play. We just went public. So I don't think there is another company our size that is public. This is a unique situation where investors betting on the future of 5G have more choices that they can bet on smaller companies as opposed to the global companies that are out there. So I think it's a good opportunity.
SH: What’s the long-term strategy for the company moving forward and what should retail and institutional investors be looking out for?
VLADO: Another great question. I believe that it is based on the overall growth, both in the short term and the long term, EasTower is focused on growing to become a prominent 5G infrastructure provider in the Southeast USA. We have experience, we have relationships, we have a solid business and we have an impeccable safety record. Our quality work is good and I think all of those can support the capital market now that we are in the public to move aggressively forward to our vision.
SH: And finally, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked please feel free to elaborate.
VLADO: No, I think you've done a great job and your questions are on point. The main thing I wanted your audience to take away from this interview is that in the middle of what we consider the next industrial revolution, there is so much opportunity in so many areas and not just the 5G. So, I don't want to be blinded by 5G, even though, as I said, it's the next industrial revolution but there is the FirstNet. There is all the towers of the 70’s and 80’s that are old and they're decommissioning. We have to decommission all those. That means that we have to build new towers. So, there's so many lines in the water for other revenue opportunities for EasTower and that's what I think is so exciting about this.
For regular updates, visit
eastowerwireless.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.