Telco tower firm backs out due to concerns on common tower policy —DICT’s Jacinto

A telco tower builder has backed out of its intent to invest in the Philippines due to concerns on the policy released by the government covering shared telecommunications towers or “common towers,” a top official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Wednesday.

During the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay, DICT Undersecretary RJ Jacinto revealed that Africa-based IHS Towers wrote a letter to DICT Secretary Gringo Honasan expressing their concerns on the common tower policy.

“We heard last night, they backed out,” Jacinto said.

“They wanted the guidelines improved,” he added, noting that IHS Towers raised certain issues.

The DICT official, however, did not elaborate.

Last May,  the DICT issued Department Circular (DC) No. 008, series 2020. The circular provides for the guidelines on “Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTIs).”

Among the salient features of the policy is the recognition of existing telcos’ rights to build their own infrastructure.

Section 30 of the DC No. 008 states that the exercise of franchise privileges of mobile network operators to build and construct new PTTIs, as well as to improve, renovate, upgrade, retrofit, or update their old towers shall be covered in separate issuances.

The DICT has been working on a common tower policy since 2018.

The common tower policy was originally envisioned to be finalized in the second quarter of 2019, but concerns on how many players should be accommodated has hampered the policy’s release.

Prior to the release of the policy, the DICT has already inked memoranda of understanding with at least 24 local and foreign common tower companies which include IHS Towers,  Edotco Group Sdn. Bhd., Aboitiz Group, ISOC Asia Telecom Towers, American Towers Inc., EEI Corp., among others.

Jacinto said the DICT needs to improve the common tower policy since some of the common tower firms have already expressed concerns on the guidelines.

“They have expressed concerns. If not addressed, they may back out too,” he said.

“We have to improve the guidelines right away,” he added.

The government's common tower initiative seeks to free telecommunications companies from costly capital expenditures in building communication towers.

Jacinto said the Philippines needs at least 50,000 additional telco towers to improve connectivity in the country.

The Philippines lags behind neighboring countries in terms of the number of existing cell sites, having only around 18,000 compared with Malaysia and Indonesia’s 25,000 and 90,000 towers, respectively, according to DICT.—AOL, GMA News