DICT sets meeting with 3 telcos for common tower plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it will meet with the country’s telecommunications providers on Friday to establish the locations of the towers that will be put up as part of the government’s common tower policy.

“Itong Friday nga, we’ll have a meeting. Kukunin na namin yung mga locations (ng tower sites) ng tatlong telcos,” DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

“The result na gusto naming makuha from that meeting are the initial…parang proof of concept muna ang ginagawa namin. The first time itong ginawa nating common towers ‘no? So we would like to come up with an initial way of doing it,” he added.

According to Rio, the government has an initial target of identifying 1,000 common tower sites during Friday’s meeting with representatives from PLDT Inc., Globe Telecom and Mislatel.

“Mayroon na tayong about 19 common tower providers na nagpirma na ng MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the DICT, so kayong tatlo (PLDT Inc, Globe Telecom and Mislatel), come up with your requirement, first year requirement pa lang, whatever, even an initial requirement,” he said.

“So we expect mga 1,000 yan by Friday maibibigay na yung talagang sites nito all over the Philippines,” he added.

Earlier, the DICT adopted a policy which aims to support common tower providers so long as they first seal a commercial contract with a telco provider.

READ: DICT finalizing common telco tower policy

Only then will the DICT provide support such as helping facilitate permits, right-of-way and the use of government-owned infrastructure.

READ: 2 more foreign firms sign up for PH common tower plan

Rio mentioned that the policy was able to attract 19 common tower providers, with five local firms and the rest from other countries.

READ: Singapore firm joins common telco tower plan 

“Hindi ang telcos ang magpuput-up nitong 1,000 new towers ‘no? Parang magkaroon sila ng kontrata with the common towers providers. Once we have that list then we will tell the telcos: ‘Okay kayo ang pumili dito sa 19 common tower [providers] kung sino yung magput-up ng mga towers na nasa listahan niyo,” he said.

The DICT official also noted that the creation of common towers would lower the subscription cost paid by consumers as the telco companies would share facilities.

READ: DICT, Aboitiz sign MOU for telco common tower

This, Rio said, would lower the amount these telco players would shell out in order to build one tower.

“Five million per tower, pero common na ho, divided by three, kung tatlo yung magkakabit doon, we expect lower subscription cost,” Rio said.

READ: 12th firm allowed to put up cell towers

“Instead of getting permits for three, we will only get permits for one, so mas mabilis. Kaya mas ma[pa]pabilis namin ang roll out ng ating mga cell sites,” he added. /jpv