Tower sales to improve internet quality pricing

MANILA, Philippines — Consumers are expected to gain improved access to the internet from the telco giants’ move to sell thousands of passive assets to tower operators, according to an advocacy group.

Better Internet PH lead advocate Mary Grace Mirandilla told reporters that internet services would improve down the line now that passive assets are owned by tower operators.

She said telco providers, such as PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc., can focus their spending on active infrastructure as they no longer manage the towers.

“They (telco operators) will be more concerned with the quality, speed and coverage of services, with the tower assets now managed and operated by independent tower entities. It is something that I believe is global best practices,” Mirandilla said.

She said the asset sales entered into by telcos promote the common tower policy of the government. This way, towers will be operated by a neutral party, paving the way for the asset to be shared by multiple providers.

This eliminates the practice wherein certain areas, particularly in the regions, are serviced by just one operator, limiting the number of options that consumers can choose from.

“Ideally, this results in more competition. In a location, you can have multiple operators coming in because there is a tower already there. This practice results in more competition, thereby better services and lower costs,” Mirandilla said.

Better Internet PH, along with other advocacy groups, want President Marcos to certify as urgent the passage of the proposed Open Access in Internet Services Act.

One provision of the measure is requiring connectivity players to share their infrastructure, such as docks, poles and towers. Through this, the proposal seeks to decrease the cost of putting up a telco asset with the goal of lowering the price of connectivity for everyone.

“If you want to push more businesses to go to rural communities, you need fiber broadband. And to do that, you need to make sure that it becomes easier and affordable to deploy fiber cables in those communities,” Mirandilla said.

Since last year, both PLDT and Globe have signed sale and leaseback agreements for thousands of their towers, allowing the telco giants to raise capital and optimize their operations.

PLDT has monetized more than 7,500 towers for a cash consideration of about P98 billion, while Globe has sold around the same number of assets for over P96 billion.