Government OKs 2,220 common towers to boost connectivity

MANILA, Philippines — The government has worked double-time to approve 2,220 permits for the construction of common towers since President Duterte’s order to fast-track processes to improve telecommunications in the country.

Speaking at yesterday’s Kapihan Sa Manila Bay online forum, Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the construction of these common cell sites would help improve internet speed and access by a great deal.

“Right now we have 22,405 towers all over the country. (The) target is to have 50,000 more cell towers,” said Malaya, adding that 700 more applications to build common towers are still pending.

In July, the President ordered drastic measures to improve telecoms services, paving the way for a joint memorandum circular (JMC) issued mainly by the Departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) with other agencies.

The JMC streamlined and harmonized the tedious process for constructing cell sites and issued guidelines for Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure or the Common Tower Policy that aims to encourage the growth of independent tower companies.

With excessive and arbitrary regulatory requirements and red tape cut out, the approval of permits for common towers only took 16 days instead of months.

As of end-November, 23 tower companies have been given provisional certificates of registration by the DICT.

Now that government has done its part, Malaya said the three telcos in the country should buckle down to work for the improvement of their services.

Internet services improved – NTC

In a separate online briefing, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) told Malacañang that internet services in the country continue to improve, citing test results from third party internet analysis company Ookla.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. was asking Cordoba what he would recommend to the President, who had earlier given telcos PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. until this month to “shape up or ship out.”

In response, Cordoba cited the Ookla speed test which showed the Philippines’ fixed downloading speed has posted a 262.7 percent increase from 7.91 mbps in 2016 to 28.69 mbps in November 2020.

Mobile downloading speed, on the other hand, has recorded a 148.52 percent spike from 7.44 mbps in 2016 to 18.49 mbps last month.

At the start of the year, fixed download speed stood at 25.91 mpbs and mobile download speed was at 16.15 mbps.

Cordoba said the country’s fixed broadband speed is ranked 32nd out of 50 countries in Asia, while its mobile broadband speed is 34th in the region.

Bigger improvement

On a positive note, greater improvements in telecommunications can be expected next year, said Cordoba, noting that countries ranking higher than the Philippines have telcos that are state-owned and governments that invest huge amounts in their internet infrastructure.

He said, “The bigger improvement will be felt by the first quarter of 2021 because competition will drive services to improve and will drive the prices to go down in the service of the Filipino consumers.”

Cordoba was referring to the competition posed by the commercial launching of third telco player, Dito Telecommunity Corp., by March next year.

For their part, Globe and PLDT vowed to sustain the ongoing improvements through bigger investments and more aggressive network rollouts.

PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart Communications Inc. president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio also pledged continued improvement.

Meanwhile, the telcos have been ordered by the NTC to ensure the stability of their services with the expected surge in demand this month as parties and reunions are expected to be conducted virtually.

At the Kapihan, Malaya denied insinuations that the common tower policy was issued to cater to the entry of Dito. – Alexis Romero, Richmond Mercurio