LCS Group ramps up common tower rollout

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly a year after the Department of Information and Communications Technology  (DICT) issued the guidelines for the construction of independent common towers for telecommunication companies, a local provider has stepped up and heeded the call to build these structures around the country.

In a statement, the LCS Group said it is set to complete its 100th tower by the end of this month, and bring its network to over 5,000 towers in the next four years.

“We fully support the DICT’s directive in allowing independent providers to construct  towers that will create opportunities for all three telcos to expand their service to more areas, ultimately improving last-mile services through collaboration with our carrier-neutral  towers,” said LCS Group vice chairman Richelle Singson-Michael.

“What is  known as the ‘sharing economy’ has disrupted tech markets, and the same principles can  be applied in the telco industry, saving them from having to invest and operate the towers themselves,” she said.

Common towers serve as carrier-neutral relay stations that telcos can share to reach more areas with more consistent signals. These towers  are not built and owned by the telcos but by independent companies. Similar to a tollway,  telcos pay the common tower providers a fee in order to utilize the structures.

“With our shared infrastructure, we have effectively  shortened the network rollout and expansion periods of all the current and future service  providers, hence expediting their go-to-the-market strategies,” LCS Group CEO Aaron Tan said.

Based on DICT data, the two major telcos, PLDT and Globe, operate a combined total of over 16,000 cell sites nationwide. New telco player Dito Telecommunity is poised to complete 3,200 sites by July 2021, with 1,920 towers already  built as of April 30.

The Philippines is trailing behind neighbors Vietnam and Indonesia in terms of tower construction, with each having around 70,000 and 90,000 towers, respectively. Catching up to them would mean not only faster internet connectivity, but better services,  safer transactions, and clearer communication for the millions of Filipinos who are still  working from home due to the global pandemic.

Singson-Michael said she also sees the common towers as economic invigorators due to their labor-intensive nature, and providers like LCS are mindful of the communities where the towers are located.

“We always make it a point to  prioritize hiring local experts and labor,” she said. “Because our job is not done if only  the telcos and the last mile are happy; we at LCS bring it upon ourselves to add value to  every single community our towers are located in.”