MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. is tapping a foreign technology partner to boost its bid to telecommunication companies for their common tower requirements.
“We’re going to have a technology partner that will help us. It’s a foreign partner,” Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. chief operating officer Cosette Canilao said.
Canilao declined to disclose the name of a potential partner as talks between them are ongoing, but said its entry may help strengthen the firm’s cyber defense capabilities.
The infrastructure business unit of the Aboitiz Group is part of the pool of common tower providers which telcos PLDT, Globe, and Mislatel can partner with for their tower roll out.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology wants the country to have 50,000 towers in seven to 10 years, or roughly 5,000 towers a year, under its common tower initiative.
“We’re hoping we can get the big chunk of the requirements of the telcos. It’s to our advantage getting them as our clients and we’re hoping that we’re offering something that they need as well. We can help them roll out so many towers,” Canilao said.
Canilao said the Aboitiz Group has existing poles in key urban cities like Cebu, Davao, Cotabo, and Subic, among others, that it can offer to the telcos.
Aboitiz InfraCapital, through its sister company AboitizPower, is offering to provide the expertise to find efficient solutions for the power requirements of the cellular towers.
Canilao said talks are still ongoing between the company and the three telcos for possible deals.
“We’re waiting for the tower policy to come out first. We’re just making sure we are within the parameters whatever is the policy the government is going to set for the common towers,” Canilao said.
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio earlier told The STAR that the policy, rules, and regulations on common and shared infrastructure in the public telecommunications market would be finalized this week, and is eyed for release by next week.
Mandating infrastructure sharing and the implementation of a common tower policy are expected to greatly improve mobile telecommunication services, internet reliability and efficiency, and provide these at a reasonable cost to consumers.
Through a common tower and pole infrastructure policy in place, the pressure of network roll out and cost management from telco companies are expected to be alleviated as they will be allowed to focus on improving customer service.
It will also promote the availability of a wide range of cost effective and competitive telco networks throughout the country by ensuring optimum utilization of telecom resources.