The government adopted a common tower policy that will speed up the deployment of cell sites nationwide in a bid to improve the telecommunication services in the country.
Presidential Adviser on Economic Affairs and ICT Ramon Jacinto said the government decided to implement a common tower policy to roll out more cellular base stations nationwide.
A common tower policy means operators will no longer be allowed to build towers but instead lease space from a tower company (TowerCo.).
Jacinto said these Tower Cos. would concentrate on rapidly deploying towers to cover the entire Philippine, adequately freeing up the telecom operators.
“TowerCo’s are not a new concept around the world and is in fact a policy in many countries, including the US, Indonesia, India and many others. In each country, it has proven to improve the deployment of cellular towers and improve cellular services and coverage,” Jacinto said.
“We need a win-win solution that takes away the biggest obstacles of telcom operators as well as removes the headache of obtaining land, permits and constructing and managing cellular towers away from the telecom operators so that they can concentrate on their core businesses—providing the proper service to the Philippine public,” he added.
Jacinto said the government was looking at three to four TowerCo’s to roll out cellular towers nationwide.
The government’s move came after PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. experienced difficulty in constructing cellular towers nationwide.
“The Philippine needs at least around 50,000 cellular towers to be able to have the proper coverage and provide adequate service to the Philippine people but right now only has around 16,000, covering only 8,000 locations,” Jacinto said.