Globe inks common tower deal with US firm

Globe Telecom Inc. continues to strengthen its bid of having more cell sites nationwide as it expanded anew its network of partner tower providers.

Globe said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Tower Corp., to build common towers in the country.

Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said the American Tower subsidiary would play a critical role in improving the density of Globe’s sites in North Luzon.

Under the agreement, Transcend Towers will build an initial 150 sites for Globe in North Luzon.

Globe said the agreement is in support of the common tower initiative of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

“There is a significant need to accelerate our infrastructure build for our customers to fully enjoy the benefit of a digital lifestyle,” Maniego-Eala said.

The agreement with Transcend Towers is the third MOU signed by Globe following separate deals signed with the tandem of ISOC Infrastructure Inc. and Malaysiabased tower giant edotco Group Sdn. Bhd. last June and the partnerhsip of Aboitiz InfraCapital and Frontier Tower Associates Philippines (FTAP) last July.

Globe’s common tower agreement with Aboitiz and FTAP will focus on improving connectivity in Cebu, Davao, and Olongapo by building and deploying the needed telco infrastructure in the most efficient way.

The agreement with ISOC and edotco, meanwhile, involves construction of an initial 150 common towers in various sites in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said the company’s parnerships with tower experts would enable the company to fast track the construction of cell sites and towers in unserved and underserved areas as well as congested urban centers.

The DICT targets to roll out at least 50,000 new common towers across the country in the next seven to 10 years.