PLDT closes deal for sale of over 3,000 towers, receives P39.2B

Telecommunications giant PLDT Inc. on Wednesday announced the completion of sale of over 3,000 tower assets, receiving P39.2 billion from the transaction.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PLDT said its subsidiaries Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. successfully achieved first closing by completing the sale of 3,012 telecom towers, representing more than half of the 5,907 towers being monetized by the telco.

The total consideration for the closed transaction is approximately P39.2 billion.

The announcement came about one and a half months after PLDT’s units Smart and Digital signed sale and purchase agreements with the subsidiaries of Malaysia-based edotco Group and Singapore-based EdgePoint Infrastructure for the sale of 5,907 telecom towers, about 50% of its entire tower network, for P77 billion.

PLDT said that the Master Services Agreements covering the leaseback arrangements for the sold towers became effective.

Smart signed a 10-year lease agreement with the companies that bought PLDT’s tower assets, expecting an annual savings of P2.6 billion in financing costs, primarily for tower maintenance and operations.

“As the largest ever acquisition of assets in the Philippines by international investors, this investment by international tower operators represents a strong endorsement of the country’s recovery from the pandemic and its long-term growth prospects,” PLDT said.

“This pioneer undertaking also supports the Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology’s goal of improving tower density which will lead to significant efficiencies and improved connectivity across the Philippines,” the telco said.

PLDT’s sale and leaseback of its towers is in line with the government’s “common tower policy” in which telcos will only have to lease towers instead of building their own  to reduce the cost of maintenance  and in turn cut the cost of telecommunications services.

The telco said it foresees additional closings in the next few months as the transaction is staggered based on the number of towers being transferred, with final closing expected by the fourth quarter of 2022.—AOL, GMA News