BOI gives green lane to P150 billion telco project

MANILA, Philippines — The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved a P150 billion Malaysian telecommunications infrastructure project for green lane processing, noting its role in introducing new technologies in the country.

In a statement yesterday, the BOI said its One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments (OSACSI) said it has awarded a green lane certification to EDOTCO Towers Inc. for its telecommunications infrastructure project.

“Expecting an investment of approximately P150 billion in the coming years, EDOTCO plans a balanced rollout of 25,000 common telecommunications infrastructures,” the BOI said.

It added that the strategic deployment spans urban and rural areas, addressing the needs of mobile network operators (MNO) and aligning with the government’s efforts to enhance mobile network access and internet penetration in underserved and unserved regions.

“The project will play a huge role in introducing new technologies such as 5th generation (5G) mobile broadband networks and large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) applications through its shared infrastructure offered to services providers and government agencies with open access and a non-discriminatory basis,” the BOI said.

On the operations side, EDOTCO will utilize non-conventional energy resources such as photovoltaic systems, wind, biomass, fuel cells, energy storage systems, or hybrid solutions, provided that site conditions are optimal for its use.

The BOI noted that EDOTCO will also utilize different analytics software to ensure continuous improvement in the operations of the network and avoid or minimize outages at sites.

It added that the project will strengthen the telecommunications infrastructure in the country, which will help attract more investors as connectivity is critical in supporting business operations.

“Energy costs are substantially reduced to the advantage of the MNO and this reduced consumption (on an aggregated basis) places less demand on the national grid,” the BOI said.

Moreover, the  project will benefit Filipinos through an increase in national employment rates and positive growth to domestic skilled labor pools with long-term transfer of knowledge from multinationals, according to the BOI.

It said that employment would not only come from the construction of infrastructure but from operations and maintenance as well.

Registered as a domestic stock corporation in 2018, EDOTCO focuses on constructing, owning, operating,  and leasing out telecommunication towers to telecommunication operators.  It was the first foreign investor in commontowers in the Philippines and was recognized as a government-linked company  in Malaysia.

EDOTCO is a wholly owned subsidiary of EDOTCO Group Sdn. Bhd., a Malaysian-based entity renowned for its reputation as the first regional and integrated infrastructure services company in Asia with a portfolio of over 58,000 towers across nine countries.

EDOTCO’s business as an ITC includes the construction of passive telecommunications tower infrastructure (PTTI) nationwide and leasing out tower and ground space and other associated services to mobile network operators in the country.

In February last year, the Office of the President approved Executive Order 18, which aims to hasten, simplify, and automate the permit and license application processes for strategic investments. The measure was officially launched in July of the same year.

Green lanes aim to hasten, simplify, and automate the permit and license application processes for strategic investments in the Philippines.