DICT inks agreement with Singaporean tower firm

MANILA, Philippines — The country continues to attract telecommunications infrastructure providers amid unsettled issues surrounding the proposed common tower policy.

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ISON ECP Tower Singapore Pte. Ltd.

The deal was similar to the MOU signed by the DICT late last year with ISOC Infrastructures Inc., a company chaired by Megawide Construction Corp.’s co-founder Michael Cosiquien.

The cooperation between ISON and the DICT is also conditioned upon the company securing an agreement with at least one telecommunications operator in the country and requiring the operator to avail of the services or make use of the common towers of ISOC.

Should it do so, ISON and DICT will enter into an agreement where the government agency will facilitate and extend full assistance to the company in complying with legal, regulatory and administrative requirements for their common tower rollout plan.

ISON is a corporation engaged in the business of providing common towers and has shown interest in offering its services to the telecommunications operators in the country.

The company submitted to the DICT last Sept. 11 an unsolicited proposal to construct 10,000 to 15,000 towers over five to seven years with investments of $700 million to $800 million. 

“The DICT, after careful review of such proposal, has found the same to be in order and promising and would ultimately benefit the people of the Philippines in terms of better services,” the agency said.

“The DICT believes that the proposed initiative will promote DICT’s mandate from (President Duterte) in bringing in a new major player in the public telecommunications market,” it added.

Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio earlier said the DICT was opening up the local market to all interested common cellular tower builders as long as they are able to secure contracts with telecommunications companies.

Presidential Adviser on Economic Affairs and Information Technology Communications Ramon Jacinto proposed a limit to just two common telecommunications infrastructure companies.

Jacinto’s proposal was met with strong opposition from foreign tower companies eyeing to do business in the Philippines, PLDT and Globe, as well as the Philippine Competition Commission.

As this developed, Sen. Grace Poe has vowed to go to the court if Jacinto would ignore the Senate’s recommendations and insist on implementing his proposed common telecommunications tower policy.

Poe reiterated her opposition to Jacinto’s proposal, saying it is counterproductive to the government’s aim of improving telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

“I’ll file a case to stop these kinds of policies that I think are harmful to our countrymen,” the senator said in a radio interview on Thursday. 

Poe said the government should be moving toward improving the infrastructure to improve internet and cellular phone signals in the country. 

She said phone signals and internet connections in the country remain weak, mainly because of the huge lack of cellular structures, estimated at 45,000 cellular towers.

She said the one major obstacle in the fast rollout of towers is the red tape in local governments.

“The President wants competition in cellular services to lower costs and improve efficiency. What (Jacinto) appears to be doing is the opposite,” Poe said.– With Paolo Romero