Nograles: ‘Common ground’ needed to finalize telco tower policy

Karlo Alexei Nograles INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Consumers will soon enjoy better telco services after the government finalizes its policy on the construction of the mobile phone towers the country needs, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Saturday.

Nograles said the country’s two telcos had only put up close to 20,000 towers, less than half the estimated 50,000 towers the country needs for dependable services.

He said the lack of such towers was the reason behind the blind spots, dropped calls, missing text messages and slow data speeds that Filipino mobile phone users had been complaining about.

Authorities are in the process of building such towers, but it has been delayed by differing policy proposals in the Cabinet.

Nograles remained confident that a “common ground” would be found between the proposals of Presidential Adviser on Economic Affairs and Information Technology Communications Ramon Jacinto and Department of Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr.

“There may be differing perspectives regarding this issue, but the goal of the administration remains the same: to encourage the construction of more telecommunications towers so that telco services are reliable and secure,” he said.

While Jacinto and Rio agree on the need for more towers, especially with the entry of a third telco player, Rio favors allowing five companies to build the towers while Jacinto is recommending only two.

Jacinto has agreed to allow up to four tower providers and the Cabinet is just finalizing the policy and arranging for local permits to be issued at the soonest possible time. —Christine O. Avendaño