Globe nears completion of telecom tower sale program
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. has drawn closer to the completion of its P96.4-billion tower sale and lease back deals after turning over all the assets sold to Aboitiz-backed Unity Digital Infrastructure.
In a disclosure on Friday, the Ayala-led company announced the seventh and final closing of its P5.4-billion tower sale comprising 447 assets to Unity, transferring the final 121 towers and cashing in P1.45 billion.
The parties signed their deal in May 2023.
“This transaction further enhances our financial flexibility, allowing us to optimize our capital structure, efficiently manage leverage, and strategically reinvest in network expansion to meet the evolving demands of our customers while ensuring long-term sustainability,” Globe chief financial officer Juan Carlo Puno said.
Following this conclusion, Globe has now turned over 91.2 percent of the 7,506 towers sold to multiple tower companies, including MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corp., Frontier Tower Associates and PhilTower Consortium Inc.
Monetized
The company has received P87.9 billion in proceeds so far. The tower sale and lease back deals are in line with the government’s tower-sharing initiative, which aims to expand internet access across the country.
In tower-sharing, operators can widen their coverage without the need to establish more infrastructure, which saves them money. Instead, these telco players can lease the towers from independent tower company operators that allow multiple users at a time.
Proceeds from the tower sales are seen to beef up coffers of Globe, which has set its capital expenditures below $1 billion. Bulk of the budget will go to construction of infrastructure to support data traffic.
Last year, the telco giant built 1,212 new cell sites, upgraded 4,613 existing mobile sites and deployed 67,456 fiber-to-the-home lines. Globe also added 587 new 5G sites across the country.
It now has 98.69-percent coverage in Metro Manila and 96.95-percent coverage in key cities of Visayas and Mindanao. It obtained a P20-billion loan from BDO Unibank Inc. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. this month to fund its spending.
