A member of the Philippines' House of Representatives has revealed that he expects the market's two incumbent mobile operators – PLDT and Globe Telecom – to sell off their telecoms towers in support of the common tower provider policy.
Makati City district representative and deputy minority leader Luis Campos Jr has indicated that the government believes PLDT and Globe are likely to eventually sell their combined 16,000 towers to any or all of the companies involved in the shared tower initiative, the Manila Bulletin reported.
In a statement, Campos said PLDT and Globe will likely consolidate and spin off their tower assets into new subsidiaries before putting them up for sale to the independent tower entities.
The statement was issued after the Department of ICT announced it had signed on the seventh partner company for the common tower provider initiative - Aboitiz InfraCapital.
The common tower policy, which is aimed at augmenting network infrastructure in the Philippines by facilitating the rollout of shared mobile towers, involves providing tower operators with assistance including expedited access to permits and approvals.
The initiative is in part aimed at making it easier for Mislatel – the company selected to become the market's third major telecoms player – to rapidly deploy mobile services.