Globe, MIDC complete first part of P26.2-B tower deal

Ayala-led Globe Telecom and MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corp. (MIDC) completed the first tranche of their P26.2-billion tower sale deal.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Globe said it sold to MIDC 701 towers for P8.4 billion. 

These towers acquired by MIDC—a joint venture of Meralco unit MIESCOR and Stonepeak—form part of the 2,180 telecommunications towers and related passive telecom infrastructure it plans to acquire from Globe.
 
Globe said the tower assets acquired by MIDC were composed of 73% ground-based towers and 27% rooftop towers. 
 
In a separate statement, MIDC said it announced its plan to acquire 2,180 towers and related passive telecom infrastructure from Globe under a sale and leaseback agreement. 
 
Under the master lease agreement, Globe will be the anchor tenant of the telco towers for an initial period of 15 years.  
 
MIDC said it completed the first closing activities with the handover-takeover of 701 towers, keeping the staggered schedule of tower transfers on track for completion in the third quarter of 2023.  
 
“This achievement marks a significant milestone for MIDC as it positions itself to be a major player in the common tower space. MIDC will work tirelessly with the government and its private sector partners [to pursue] more opportunities that will promote the expansion of the country’s digital infrastructure and help hasten the growth of our digital economy," said MIDC chairman Ray Espinosa.  
 
Globe said that it has completed the sale of 1,501 out of 7,059 towers to date.
 
The company has previously said that 75% of the proceeds will be used to finance capital expenditures, support ongoing network expansion, and maintain industry-leading network consistency and reliability scores.
 
The remaining 25% will be used for its debt servicing requirements for 2023.

This is in line with the common tower policy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, which governs the sharing of towers by telecommunications firms.

The policy seeks to free telecommunications firms from costly capital expenditures on building communication towers. — VBL, GMA News