Globe Telecom is tapping independent tower companies for up to 900 locations around the country in a bid to boost service quality.
The company, backed by Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications, said in a statement on Wednesday tie-ups with tower builders were moving toward the construction phase after sites had been identified.
Globe earlier sealed agreements with Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC), ISOC-edotco, Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), CREI Philippines (CREI) and Frontier Towers & Associates (FTA) for the towers.
“The partnerships with towercos will greatly complement the company’s target in expanding its capacity and coverage throughout the country,” Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said.
“These projects will be a catalyst for change in the industry as telcos are empowered to deploy beyond their individual capabilities in a cost efficient manner,” she added.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is pushing for independent tower builders to ramp up the construction of cell sites, which are crucial in improving the state of mobile connectivity and internet speeds in the Philippines.
Under this model, the telcos will lease slots in these common towers, helping reduce spending, redundant sites and eventually lowering costs for subscribers.
From over 20,000 sites today, the DICT is targeting the construction of about 50,000 new towers in the coming years.
In its statement, Globe said it had sealed a pole lease agreement with AIC to increase its footprint by about 200 sites in more parts of Cebu, Davao and Subic.
In addition, 300 macro sites will be completed for deployment in North Luzon and South Luzon while 400 more sites will be assigned within the year to cover Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Globe expects ISOC-edotco, a venture between businessman Michael Cosiquien’s ISOC Infrastructure and edotco of Malaysia, to activate its first tower. More sites are underway and will be completed shortly, the company added.
Globe also committed to be the anchor tenant in a build-to-suit agreement with Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), a subsidiary of American Tower Corp. It sealed similar tower lease agreements with ISOC-edotco, CREI and FTA.
“These infrastructure partnerships demonstrate Globe’s commitment to improve the network quality experience of our customers. It is, likewise, highly supportive of the government’s initiative to increase ICT infrastructure in the country,” Maniego-Eala added.