Smart secures LGU permits for cell towers

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc.’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. has secured over 660 permits from various local government units around the country which will help accelerate its plan to build new towers to deliver better connectivity.

“This invaluable help from the national government will now make it easier for us to build more towers and pick up the pace of our countrywide expansion program,” Smart president and CEO and PLDT chief revenue officer Alfredo Panlilio said.

“We are grateful to the LGUs who are supportive of this initiative – we take it as a nod of confidence and will reciprocate it with the best customer experience,” Panlilio said.

Panlilio said building more towers would also be crucial to the company’s 5G rollout, as the technology would require additional facilities.

Smart typically builds around 1,000 to 1,500 towers annually, he said.

Panlilio said while building more towers is key to improving coverage, this is just one part of PLDT’s network infrastructure.

“Towers are just one element in the mobile network infrastructure of PLDT-Smart, and we have both fixed and mobile infrastructures. We have about 10,000 macro and micro cell sites and more than 20,000 LTE base stations strategically situated across the country,” he said.

Panlilio said complementing the towers is an extensive fiber optic network of at least 360,000 kilometers which PLDT has.

“We continuously expand our fiber optic network, and will be applying for the permits to build more, hopeful that we would be given the same privilege by the LGUs. We also have data centers and partners for international capacity. That’s the kind of large-scale network that is needed to be built to be able to provide competitive service,” he said.

Panlilio had earlier emphasized the importance of working with the government in improving telco services, saying the public sector initiatives to make building more towers easier and faster will be a big help to the company in terms of improving coverage.

PLDT and Smart also previously sought the help of government agencies in gaining access to more than 300 sites for installations and repairs which would pave the way for better quality and reliable services to the public.

The  group earlier said the restrictions imposed by some LGUs due to different levels of community quarantine nationwide have impacted its performance of critical activities such as service restoration, maintenance, installation works, capacity expansion, replacement and upgrade of critical facilities, and other urgent work.