Revisiting the Common Tower Policy: How do we reach 50k towers?
There are interesting developments in the telecom tower industry: Globe Telecom recently announced being “on track” to complete 1,700 new cell sites by year-end. PLDT/Smart completed the sale of 4,025 or 68% of its tower assets to ISOC edotco Towers, Inc. and Comworks Infratech Corp. DITO Telecommunity has built more than 5,500 towers.
While these investments signal increased commitments to establishing more towers, they are still far from the government’s target of 50,000 towers by 2026.
The DICT’s common tower policy presented a positive step towards the sharing of passive telecom infrastructure. To date, the DICT has accredited 23 independent tower companies (ITCs) to meet its target of 15,000 towers by 2024.
To date, only ISOC edotco Towers Inc (500 towers by year-end) and Communication and Renewable Energy Infrastructure Phils. Inc (600 towers by 2023) have announced updates from their initial plans.
Reaching 50,000 towers by 2026 may prove challenging despite these commitments. The joint memorandum circular by the DICT, the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), and other government agencies helped, but is not enough, it seems.
Many geographically isolated and disadvantaged (GIDA) areas in the country are still beyond the reach of mobile networks. And they will continue to do so unless a profitable business case can be made for these areas. In some cases, a burgeoning tourism industry in remote areas serves as the draw for the network operators.
The government should be able to identify the underserved and unserved areas. Absent a network coverage map, the authorities cannot instruct the MNOs and independent tower companies where to build.
Perhaps the community can contribute to the data? How about a mechanism for the local communities to report to the DICT their connectivity situation and request for network coverage? The national and local governments should work together to enable infrastructure rollout.
