PLDT In Talks With Tower Companies

PLDT, Inc. is open to participating in the government’s push for shared telecommunications infrastructure.

As the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) signed five tower companies to enter the Philippine market as of last week, PLDT Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said they have been approached by some of these firms.

“A number of these tower companies have approached us and we said we are willing to cooperate in respect of new towers,” the PLDT chief told reporters.

“The formula is flexible. If they’re willing to sell after they build the towers, if they’re willing to sell to us, we’re willing to consider buying them. Or just leasing the towers, and tell us whether you’re going to lease it to other telcos, so we need to know,” he added.

Mr. Pangilinan refused to name the companies that talked to them but noted PLDT is “willing to support” the endeavor.

The DICT have already signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with one local tower company and four foreign ones, namely: ISOC Infrastructures, Inc. from the Philippines; ISON ECP Tower Pte. Ltd. from Singapore; IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS Towers) from Nigeria; edotco Group Sdn Bhd from Malaysia; and China Energy Equipment Co. Ltd. from China.

DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo M. Rio, Jr. said they are also looking to sign an MoU with American Tower Corp. this week.

The MoUs guarantee the government’s assistance in securing permits for installing common towers, which Mr. Rio admittedly said has been riddled with bureaucratic hurdles.

Telcos PLDT and Globe Telecom, Inc. had to build their own towers for their individual operations, as allowed by their legislative franchises. Rio said only around 16,000 towers are in place because of this practice, and 50,000 more is needed to reach optimal efficiency.

Globe had previously expressed its support for the common tower initiative. It has been working to incorporate its own tower company, GTowers, Inc., after securing approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission last year.

Globe Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Yoly C. Crisanto said in a text message early January that they have been in talks with several tower companies to tap for GTowers.―Business World