DICT says 13 more companies interested in gov’t’s common tower initiative

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Thursday that 13 more companies have expressed interest in putting put up shared telecommunications towers in the country as part of the government’s bid to improve mobile connectivity.

“Presently, the DICT has received letters of intent from 13 additional tower companies who wish to register as ITCs (independent tower companies),” the DICT said in a statement. It did not disclose the names of the firms which expressed intent to participate in the common tower initiative.

“This was a welcome improvement to the department’s existing agreements with the 24 tower companies, which are mostly foreign-owned,” the department said.

Prior to the release of the common tower policy, the DICT inked memoranda of understanding with at least 24 local and foreign common tower companies, including IHS Towers,  Edotco Group Sdn. Bhd., Aboitiz Group, ISOC Asia Telecom Towers, American Towers Inc., and EEI Corporation.

Last May,  the DICT issued Department Circular (DC) No. 008, series 2020. The circular provides for the guidelines on “Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTIs).”

Among the salient features of the policy is the recognition of existing telcos’ rights to build their own infrastructure.

Section 30 of the DC No. 008, states that the exercise of franchise privileges of mobile network operators to build and construct new PTTIs, as well as to improve, renovate, upgrade, retrofit, or update their old towers shall be covered in separate issuances.

“The need for an improved ICT infrastructure is still one of the major concerns of the government during this public health emergency as the demand for internet connectivity surged among businesses, industries, students, workers and the larger public. In view of this, the Department is focused on promoting faster telecommunications tower buildup through reducing tower permitting requirements,” the DICT said.

The DICT has been working on a common tower policy since 2018.

The common tower policy was originally envisioned to be finalized in the second quarter of 2019, but concerns on how many players should be accommodated has hampered the policy’s release.

The government's common tower initiative seeks to free telecommunications companies from costly capital expenditures in building communication towers.

The Philippines needs at least 50,000 additional telco towers to improve connectivity in the country, according to the DICT.

The Philippines lags behind neighboring countries in terms of the number of existing cell sites, having only around 18,000 compared with Malaysia and Indonesia’s 25,000 and 90,000 towers, respectively, it said. — By TED CORDERO, GMA News

Source: Peso Economics