DICT expects to sign deals with potential tower firms
Credit to Author: LISBET K. ESMAEL| Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2018 16:16:26 +0000
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is set to ink memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with more aspiring common tower providers.
“We expect them to sign by first half of January 2019,” acting DICT Chief Eliseo Rio Jr. told The Manila Times last week.
Rio declined to identify the groups when asked. Earlier, he said five firms already expressed intent to join the common tower policy by submitting their respective proposals.
On December 20 last year, the agency signed an MoU with ISOC Infrastructure, Inc., five months after the latter submitted its unsolicited proposal to build towers to be rented out for telco operators.
Under the MoU, Rio said the DICT would “be responsible in facilitating all government permits, right of way, etc, for the installation of towers which could be leased to all telcos” once ISOC secures an agreement with a telco carrier.
“The results of these MOUs will also give important inputs in coming up with a final Common Tower Policy,” he previously said in a text message.
The government is pushing for the said policy to hasten the deployment of cell sites nationwide, the number of which needs to reach 50,000 towers to address telecommunication requirements of over 100 million subscribers. Currently, the country has 16,500 cell sites.
Although the draft rule, wanting to accredit only two tower companies, drew disapprovals from potential players, Ramon Jacinto, presidential adviser on economic affairs and information technology communications, and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon stressed the number was enough for three telcos.
“The industry standard is tower companies number half of the operators in other countries, so in the Philippines, two licensed tower companies in the initial 4 years is more than enough since there are only three players,” they said in a joint statement issued last December 21.
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