The International Digital Infrastructure Alliance (IDIA) is finally up and running. Announced earlier this year, the new group aims to provide a unified global voice for the wireless tower industry.
With founding members including IHS, Helios Towers and the edotco Group, the IDIA’s stated aim will be to help drive global digital infrastructure roll-outs across developed and developing markets
The IDIA was founded by major tower companies (or towercos) as a direct response to what it describes as an urgent need for globally recognised regulatory best practice for the deployment of digital infrastructure, crucial for investment in increasingly densified networks.
Working in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of the World Bank Group, the IDIA aims to help avoid fragmentation in the regulatory environment and secure the long-term infrastructure investments required for sustainable densification worldwide.
It’s certainly true, as the IDIA says, that the tower industry provides a critical function in telecommunications infrastructure and that the importance of this role is only set to increase with the development of smart cities and roll-out of 5G and IoT wireless networks, which will require an exponential increase in the number of sites required.
Of most interest to Developing Telecoms, however, is that the IDIA promises a particular focus on developing markets.
However, it’s early days yet. For now, the IDIA has an initial three-year program, with an agreed set of objectives and milestones, including coordinating global messaging and advocacy, to ensure that, in the development of policy, governments and municipalities take account of the socio-economic benefits delivered by towercos as shared infrastructure providers.
The alliance also plans to provide a global database to help individual members and regional towerco associations share best practice with regulators and governments. Find out more at www.idia.io
