PLDT open to sharing new cell towers only

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. sees no need to share its existing cell towers with Globe Telecom Inc., but it is open to working with its rival for new towers to be built.

“At this time, we don’t see any benefit or need to share any of our existing network elements, including the towers,” PLDT chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said when asked if the telco would be open to work with Globe for tower sharing.

While PLDT is not inclined to share its existing cell towers with Globe, it is willing to work with the competitor on new towers.

“We’re willing to work with the competitor on new towers, but it must be towers in areas where our network is being rolled out. We cannot just base our stations in areas where Globe says this is where we build up the (tower). It has to be consistent with our network design and network rollout. But obviously we can if it saves us cost,” PLDT chief corporate services officer Ray Espinosa said.

Last week, Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu said the Ayala-led telco has always been willing to share towers with PLDT given the benefits in terms of having lower costs for building the network.

Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said the telco has been trying to convince PLDT to have a tower sharing venture for future builds to save on capital expenditures.

Earlier, Globe said it has initiated discussions with independent third parties for the establishment of a tower company to help speed up the build and deployment of cellular towers in the country.

Telcos face challenges in building towers in the country as they need to secure 25 permits for each cell site and the process takes about eight months to complete.

The country has less than 20,000 cell sites to cater to a population of 100 million.

It needs 50,000 more which would require an investment amounting to $5 billion to meet the demand.