Globe Telecom gets P2.6B from sale of 200 towers

CASHING IN The firm has so far raised over P26B from telco tower sales. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA  -Globe Telecom Inc. received P2.6 billion from the recent closing of over 200 tower assets sold to Frontier Tower Associates Philippines Inc. and MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corp. (MIDC).

In a disclosure on Wednesday, the Ayala-led company said that it turned over 113 towers to Frontier Tower. These include 77 percent ground-based towers and 23 percent rooftop towers across the country.

It has so far transferred 2,094 towers out of the 3,529 acquired infrastructure by Frontier Towers, cashing in P26.6 billion in total from the sale and leaseback deal.

For MIDC, Globe turned over 100 towers during the recent closing, the bulk of which are ground-based assets.

Following this transaction, MIDC has taken control of 1,120 towers out of the 2,180 towers it purchased from Globe.

Globe, in total, has completed 54-percent of the tower deals. It sold 7,506 telco assets to multiple tower companies.

The transactions are in line with the government’s common tower policy, which supports colocation services. This means independent tower companies can build up their shared telecommunications tower assets that can be tapped by any local player to expand wireless network coverage across the country.

READ: Gov’t OKs rules on common telco tower plan

READ: Study: Telcos, consumers winners in PH’s common tower policy

“The business of Globe is a capital intensive one and this transaction that we initiated with tower companies has proven to be a great complement to our roll out of critical infrastructures to achieve wider coverage and consistency of service across the country,” Globe chief finance officer Rizal Maniego-Eala said.

“We continue to collaborate with Frontier Towers and MIDC towards the acceleration and maintenance of a modern and effective network in order to serve millions of Filipinos who are reliant on connectivity and online platforms for their daily activities,” she added.

The listed company saw its net earnings drop by 27 percent to P14.38 billion in the first half from P19.68 billion a year ago due to absence of a one-time gain from asset sale and higher depreciation expense.

Service revenues climbed by 2 percent to a record P80.4 billion for the period, driven by data revenue growth across mobile and corporate data business.

Globe spent P37.7 billion in capital expenditures, bulk of which were for data requirements. It built 542 new cell sites and upgraded 5,087 mobile sites in the first half.