PLDT may sell remaining telco towers

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. said it may consider monetizing its remaining towers assets in the future following the successful sale of almost half of its tower portfolio, generating P77 billion for the company.

“We’d be very busy first completing this transaction so I think we’ll have to consider the balance maybe in the future,” PLDT and Smart Communications Inc. president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio said.

“But right now the focus is just to complete the transaction. This is a very big transaction for us, not only commercially, but operationally it’s a huge task for our network group to make sure that the transition plan happens seamlessly. So right now we’ll focus on the first almost 6,000 towers,” he said.

PLDT expects the first closing of the deal to happen next month, and the final closing by the fourth quarter.

Subsidiaries of the telco giant Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. signed last week sale and purchase agreements with two international tower operators involving 5,907 telecom towers and related passive telecom infrastructure.

PLDT said the transaction price of P77 billion makes the deal the largest ever acquisition of assets in the country by international investors, with the towers sold at a significant premium over book value.

On average, the assets were sold at P13 million per tower.

“This is the first tower sale to be achieved here in this country, so in many respects, it had the benefit of the first mover advantage,” PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

S&P Global Ratings last week said it believes that the tower sale would not be the last of such deals in the Philippines.

According to the debt watcher, PLDT’s sale and leaseback transaction also echoes recent actions of other rated telecom operators in the region to monetize passive tower assets.

It said the trend is mainly borne out of the need of operators for an impending capex wave to roll out 5G networks.

PLDT has earmarked between P76 billion and P80 billion in capital expenditures this year to support its network expansion efforts.

The company, however, could increase its capex budget this year with economic activity further picking up.