Globe Telecom Inc. said Wednesday it obtained an approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a tower company that will speed up the deployment of cellular towers nationwide.
The company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it already received the approval of the SEC on the incorporation of GTowers Inc.
“The establishment of a tower company will help speed the building and deployment of cellular towers in the country,” Globe said.
Globe early this year announced it initiated talks with independent third parties to manage the tower assets.
“As a major industry player, we understand what this country needs to improve the internet experience of our customers. Putting up more towers based on global standards within strategic areas will make spectrum use more efficient,” Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu earlier said.
The company is pushing for the establishment of tower companies similar to those found in developed countries. With the proposed tower holding company, any player can do outright lease of the towers using standard, non-discriminatory commercial terms.
The lack of cellular towers was identified as the greatest barrier to seamless mobile internet connectivity with no viable short-term solution because of permitting issues.
The Philippines has one of the lowest tower densities in the world with less than 20,000 towers serving more than 100 million people.
Industry analysts said more than 50,000 towers should be built to serve the current voice and data traffic that was growing exponentially every year.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology said it was expecting to accredit a tower company by the first quarter of 2019 to build more cellular base stations nationwide.
It said there would be no limitation to the ownership structure and that foreigners could own up to 100 percent of the tower company.
Each tower company is projected to invest $2 billion.