PLDT gets P9 billion more from sale of towers

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. has sold another batch of tower assets for more than P9 billion, this time to the Aboitiz Group, expanding its war chest for network upgrades in 2023.

PLDT announced yesterday that its subsidiaries Smart Communications Inc. and Digital Mobile Philippines Inc. signed a P9.2-billion agreement for the disposal of 650 towers.

With this, PLDT will transfer the ownership of the telco towers to Unity Digital Infrastructure Inc., an independent tower operator backed by Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. and Partners Group.

According to PLDT, the telco towers are situated mostly in Visayas and Mindanao. As such, the Pangilinan-led telco expects connectivity service to improve in those regions, as Unity vowed to broaden the reach of the tower assets.

Also, Smart entered into a master services agreement with Unity using similar terms, including the rates and tenor, as the tower deals it signed in April. Under the transaction, Smart will lease back the telco towers for up to 10 years at competitive terms as the anchor tenant.

As this happens, Smart will raise an additional 220 towers in the next few years to scale up its network presence and improve customer experience across the Philippines.

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the tower sale would generate extra resources for the telco giant that it can deploy to stretch its finances for expansion projects.

“This transaction deepens our relationship with Unity and its shareholders, while allowing PLDT to further unlock value, and providing us with additional financial and operational flexibility as we further expand across the Philippines,” Pangilinan said.

Likewise, PLDT president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio said the transaction with Unity should raise network quality across Visayas and Mindanao.

In the long run, he expects connectivity service in these regions to improve and support the digitalization even of remote areas.

Panlilio said all of the towers would be transferred to Unity before the end of 2023, adding that  Smart and Unity would stagger the closing of the transaction similar to the previous tower sale.

Prior to this, PLDT signed a P77-billion deal to sell close to 6,000 passive assets to two foreign tower operators, namely, Comworks Infratech Corp. and ISOC edotco Towers Inc.

In October, Pangilinan and Panlilio told The STAR that PLDT and its subsidiaries intend to sell up to 3,000 towers next year to tighten its belt and streamline its operations in the face of economic risks here and abroad.