DICT opens market to all common tower builders

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is opening up the local market to all interested common cellular tower builders as long as they are able to secure contracts with telecommunications companies.

The development comes after the proposal to limit to just two the number of accredited common telecommunications infrastructure companies in the country received strong opposition from foreign tower companies eyeing to do business in the Philippines, incumbents PLDT and Globe, as well as the Philippine Competition Commission.

“As you know, we encountered problems in creating the common towers policy so what we did, because we needed the common towers to be put up as soon as possible, as early as first quarter next year, we thought that instead of waiting for a common tower policy, we will let all common telco providers who are interested, we will come up with a memorandum of understanding with them that we are recognizing their capability and they can now go to the telcos to offer their service and if they can get a contract with the telcos, that is when we will support them on their permits, right of way, and whatever government support we can give for infrastructure,” Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio told The STAR in a phone interview.

“Now, if they are unable to secure a contract, that will give us an indication in the policy as to the number which the market can accommodate, instead of coming up with a policy and then after that will be adjusted. We can come up with a policy later on, but with this temporary solution, we can see what we can put as a formal policy,” he said.

ISOC Infrastructures Inc., a company chaired by Megawide Construction Corp. co-founder Michael Cosiquien, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) yesterday with the DICT to further cement its commitment to be the first common tower provider in the country.

ISOC was the first to submit last July an unsolicited proposal to the DICT to build telecommunication towers to be shared among the country’s telco operators.

Under the MOU, the cooperation between ISOC and DICT is conditioned upon the former securing an agreement with any telecommunications operator in the country which clearly states that such telco operator would avail of the services or make use of the common towers of ISOC.

Should it do so, ISOC and DICT will then enter into an agreement in which the government agency will facilitate and extend full assistance to the company in complying with legal, regulatory and administrative requirements for their common tower roll out plan.

“This MOU is us telling the telcos that we are recognizing this company as a common tower company and if you will have a contract with them, then we are going to support this common tower provider,” Rio said.

Aside from ISOC, Rio said there are five other common tower builders that have either submitted an unsolicited proposal or expressed interest to be a common tower provider in the country.

ISON ECP Tower Singapore Pte. Ltd. was among these firms, submitting an unsolicited proposal to construct 10,000 to 15,000 towers over five to seven years with investments of $700 million to $800 million.

The common tower scheme is expected to provide the necessary infrastructure to help improve the country’s communication channels. Tower sharing is an existing business model in the telecommunications industry that has been proven effective in Southeast Asia, US, and other parts of the world.