Globe partners with Skytowers Infra for tower lease agreement

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. has entered into a partnership on tower lease with Skytowers Infra Inc., a Philippine subsidiary of Thai firm Sky Tower Plc.

Globe and Skytowers signed a lease agreement covering several towers in Southern Luzon.

The Ayala-led telco said the partnership is in line with the company’s overall strategy to monetize passive assets to maintain a healthy balance sheet.

“This partnership represents an important step in improving digital infrastructure in the Philippines, and we are excited to work with Skytowers to bring sustainable solutions to the market,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.

Globe is exploring the possibility of expanding Skytowers’ tower lease in Visayas and Mindanao.

To complement Globe’s sustainability efforts, the tower company is determined to reduce its carbon footprint by using renewable energy to lessen fossil fuel consumption.

Globe said the partnership is a testament to the strong relationship between the Philippines and Thailand and their commitment to promoting economic growth and development.

“We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Thailand in this venture and other areas of collaboration,” Cu said.

Skytowers is affiliated with Electric Power and Telecommunication Infrastructure, which has extensive experience in engineering, design and manufacturing of infrastructure build.

It offers telecom services and T3 Technology for broadband/fiber optic solutions in markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

For this year, Globe has allocated $1.3 billion as it moves on the next phase of its capex investment cycle that is focused toward capital efficiency and optimization.

The amount is 30 percent lower compared to the expected peak of $1.9 billion in cash capex spending for 2022 and returns the Ayala-led telco to its pre-pandemic level of spending.

By easing capex intensity, Globe aims to optimize capex spending in the next few years by focusing on maximizing utilization of existing fiber assets and taking advantage of the arrangements made with tower companies to maximize tower builds.

As of end-September last year, Globe has deployed close to 1.4 million fiber-to-the-home lines, built 1,064 new cell sites, upgraded over 10.6 thousand mobile sites to LTE, and installed 1,887 new 5G sites nationwide.