Common Tower guidelines released
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio released Thursday the initial guidelines of the Common Tower and Pole policy and presidential adviser on economic affairs and information technology communications Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, who was tasked by President Duterte to oversee the crafting of the guidelines, welcomed Globe’s public statement that it is willing to sell-off their existing towers to a common tower company (Towerco). The two official said Globe’s statement is encouraging and would jumpstart the rollout of the common towers.
In a press conference Thursday, Secretary Rio and PA Jacinto said it is a win-win solution and would benefit the public tremendously. “Common towers is a worldwide trend even in new developing countries like Myanmar which easily adopted it.”
Common towers are most prevalent in China and other countries like Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam.
“It is the trend worldwide,” Jacinto said, adding that it gets rid of the biggest headache of Globe and Smart and frees their capex. “In fairness to the incumbent dominant telcos, it was really difficult and cumbersome to navigate the many permits required and the Duterte government is committed to shorten and fast track this process upon the entry of the independent telcos,” Jacinto.
One, or a maximum of two Towercos will be accredited by the DICT. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will be in charge of regulatory implementation.
Secretary Rio and PA Jacinto are hopeful that the accreditation would be completed by the first quarter of next year, followed by a six month buildup and consultative meetings with users regarding their requirements.
The effectivity date and start of rollout is projected by August or September next year, which is just about the time the Facebook fiber optic cable will be activated providing two terabites of bandwidth free for the country, which will drastically bring down the cost of internet which even medium and small players can avail of.
The maximum rollout capacity of one Towerco is about 25,000 for a seven year period, so two Towercos may be chosen for a total of 50,000 towers. Add to that the 16,300 existing towers of Smart and Globe and you have almost 70,000 towers projected in a seven year period. Each Towerco is projected to invest in the area $2 billion each.
Secretary Rio and PA Jacinto added, “The government should do its share by giving maximum support to the Towerco in getting permits, providing incentives available for this pioneering venture, and suggesting to Congress to craft laws such as amending building codes and public works laws for buildings and highways to be fiber ready to make the country competitive. Also, all government telecommunication assets, such as the towers of the defunct Telof, access to government buildings and lands, etc. will be made available to the Towerco.
Also some form of levy or a tax break could be crafted that will go to a sinking fund to partially subsidize the rollout of towers in the rural and remote areas.