Common tower policy draft out in two months —DICT

The common tower policy draft will be completed in two months, the government said after the first public consultation on the matter concluded on Wednesday.

“As soon as we are able to process the inputs, then we come up with a policy already. May draft na tayo ng policy,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan told reporters in Quezon City.

“Siguro give or take mga two months, may policy na tayo. That’s a draft, that’s a product of one input. Ang gusto natin is marinig lahat,” he said.

Originally envisioned to be finalized by the second quarter of the year, the common tower policy seeks to free telcos from costly capital expenditures in building telecommunications towers.

The draft policy will take into account inputs from stakeholders—submitted to the DICT during Wednesday’s consultation as well as from other meetings to come.

“Pinagsalita pa natin lahat, ‘di ba, na nandito. Of course, followed by written submissions para 'yung ayaw nilang sabihin (verbally) ... written submissions. We will react with confidentiality. So after that we schedule the next meeting,” Honasan noted.

The DICT has been at odds with Presidential Adviser on Economic Affairs Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, who last year said the government needed to accredit only two common tower companies.

Jacinto has since taken the position of accommodating up to four common tower providers, but maintained that existing telcos be prohibited from building their own infrastructure.

The DICT has remained firm that the market would dictate how many common tower providers should be accredited.

So far only Globe Telecom Inc. has signed agreements to lease common towers across the country.

The Ayala-led telco has committed to lease common towers to be built by the group of ISOC Infrastructures Inc. and edotco Group Sdn. Bhd., and by the group of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. and Frontier Tower Associates Philippines.

“Let’s just finalize what it is. Is there a tower policy, is there none? And if there is one, let’s finalize it as well,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said in an earlier press conference. —VDS, GMA News