ISOC Infrastructure wants to build ‘common towers’ for telcos

ISOC Infrastructures Inc. submitted to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Wednesday an unsolicited proposal on building telecommunications towers for the government's “common tower” initiative.

“We’re proposing to provide solutions to upgrading telco services. We’re proposing to build 25,000 towers in seven years,” ISOC Holdings Inc. chairman Michael Cosiquien said.

“For the seven years time period, we’re looking at a total of P100 billion,” Cosiquien said.

This means that the company is making a commitment to invest P100 billion in seven years to build the common towers for telecommunications companies.

ISOC Infrastructures is a subsidiary of ISOC Holdings.

The proposal will undergo a legal review, which may result in the title of original proponent status in favor of ISOC Infrastructure, DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio said.

“It will be subjected to a Swiss Challenge,” he said.

The government is bent on implementing a common tower policy, which aims to reduce the cost of telecommunications services by freeing telcos from costly expenditures in building their own towers or cell sites.

The towers will be shared by telco operators, like PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. as well as the so called third telco that has yet to materialize.

Cosiquien said that the company is looking at an investment of around P20 billion in the first three years.

ISOC Infrastructures will build a network of telecommunication towers throughout the country.

The guidelines for the common tower policy is undergoing due diligence to ensure that its legality will not be challenged in the future.

Rio said the Philippines needs around 50,000 cell sites so the telcos may provide adequate service across the country.

The 50,000 towers will be built by two common tower companies to be chosen by the government.

The cell sites will be leased to the private sector telcos at no cost to the government, Rio noted.

“We will help them with all the permits ... because that is one complaint—that a tower needs 25 permits,” he said.

President Duterte enacted the Ease of Doing Business law in late May.

With the law in place, Rio expects a reduction in bureaucratic red tape particularly in processing permits for common towers. —VDS, GMA News