Riding on the momentum of receiving clearance from various local government units (LGUs) to build cell sites across the country, Globe continues to make significant headway in its tower builds through partnerships with several tower companies (towercos).
Globe Chief Finance Officer and Chief Risk Officer Rizza Maniego-Eala says that the company’s partnerships with Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC), ISOC-edotco, Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), CREI Philippines (CREI) and Frontier Towers & Associates (FTA) have advanced to active acquisition and build phases.
“The partnerships with towercos will greatly complement the company’s target in expanding its capacity and coverage throughout the country. These projects will be a catalyst for change in the industry as telcos are empowered to deploy beyond their individual capabilities in a cost efficient manner,” Maniego-Eala explains.
Globe finalized a pole lease agreement with AIC, a subsidiary of the Aboitiz Group, and is seen to increase its footprint by about 200 sites in more parts of Cebu, Davao, and Subic.
In addition, 300 macro sites will be completed for deployment in North Luzon and South Luzon while 400 more sites will be assigned within the year to cover Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The count is projected to increase expansively once the pilot sites of these projects are launched.
First to deliver a tower for activation is ISOC-edotco, a collaboration between ISOC Infrastructure and edotco, a Malaysian based Tower Company (TowerCo), with more currently underway and are expected to be completed shortly.
Globe has committed to be the anchor tenant in a build-to-suit agreement with Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation, as well as in tower lease agreements with ISOC-edotco, CREI and FTA.
“These infrastructure partnerships demonstrate Globe’s commitment to improve the network quality experience of our customers. It is, likewise, highly supportive of the government’s initiative to increase ICT infrastructure in the country,” Maniego-Eala adds.
Globe continues to increase its network capacity to support the data services needs of customers and stakeholders in light of accelerated digitalization efforts across various sectors including e-payments, e-government, telehealth and distance learning.
