The government’s “common tower” initiative under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is only allowing two participants in the first four years of the program, according to the GMA News. Representatives of American Tower Co, Telenor Group’s Grameenphone Ltd., and Frontier Tower Associates want them to allow more competition sooner.
“Two companies does not make sense,” Frontier Tower chairman and CEO Patrick Tangney told GMA News. “To limit it to only two tower companies will result in failure of agreements.”
American Tower vice president and chief business officer Asia, Manish Kasliwal said, “We need more if you are looking for reliable industry.”
DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said the department will take into consideration the stakeholders’ suggestions while the Duterte administration is pushing for a common tower policy to free telecommunications companies from costly capital expenditures.
The Philippines lags behind neighboring countries in terms of the number of existing cell site towers, having only 16,000. Compare that with Malaysia and Indonesia’s 25,000 and 90,000 towers, respectively, GMA News reported.
October 10, 2018
