Edotco, Axiata’s regional tower company, plans to invest $200 million in Myanmar over the next five years and aims to build 5,000 towers over the next three.

The company recently acquired a 75 per cent stake in Digicel’s Myanmar venture, Myanmar Tower Company, for $221 million. The deal was announced in October.

Edotco CEO Suresh Sidhu outlined its strategic goals at the official launch of its operations, together with its local partner, Yoma Strategic Holdings.

“We are dedicated to establishing a high quality telecommunications network in Myanmar,” Sidhu said. “This will be achieved through the introduction of sustainable and value-added services, such as alternative energy solutions, dual-purpose structures and our proprietary echo remote monitoring and management system.”

The country’s tower market is expected to be one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing telecoms infrastructure markets as Telenor and rival Ooredoo Myanmar build out their networks after receiving licences in late 2013.

Edotco plans to benefit from this rapid growth that is expected to see the number of towers jump from about 8,000 to almost 30,000 by 2024.

The firm owns more than 16,000 towers in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan.

Last month Telenor Myanmar added Malaysia’s OCK Group and its local partner King Royal Technologies to its list of telecoms tower suppliers, as it ramps up its network buildout to meet its obligation to cover 90 per cent of the country within five years.

The operator said it has about 3,700 towers and will need about 9,000 sites for full nationwide coverage.

It has existing agreements with Apollo Towers, Eco-Friendly Towers and Irrawaddy Green Towers to build and manage towers across the country.