- Financing supports Aktivco’s expansion, including a new Senegal ESCO project; Camusat cites 7,000 managed sites and a 10,000-site target.
- The package reflects ongoing lender cooperation led by FEI; development financiers continue to shape Africa’s telecom-energy landscape.
Multilateral lenders back ESCO growth
Camusat announced that its infrastructure subsidiary Aktivco has signed US$54m of financing to expand managed energy services for telecom towers across Africa. The funding extends a strategic partnership with the, joined by (the private sector arm of the French Development Agency), Norfund (Norway’s development fund) and AfricaGoGreen.
Aktivco already manages 7,000 ESCO sites, has invested around US$216m since 2017, and targets 10,000 sites by 2025. Its latest win is a Senegalese ESCO contract, part of efforts to deliver reliable energy to mobile networks operating in regions with weak or no grid power. This follows a July 2023 FEI-led arrangement in Senegal, highlighting sustained multilateral appetite for energy-service outsourcing in telecom infrastructure.
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Why it’s important
Rolling out ESCO projects is far from simple. Support from development finance bodies such as Proparco and Norfund does boost trust, aligning with their remit under UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy. Still, doubts remain over whether Aktivco can maintain performance standards as it scales across diverse African markets, and whether operators will accept the pricing terms needed to sustain the model.
The financing extends Aktivco’s project pipeline, but long-term credibility will depend on measurable outcomes: the shift from diesel to renewables, reliability improvements, and proof that the model can thrive beyond concessional backing.
