DICT issues registration certificates to 23 tower firms

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Tuesday it is ramping up the roll-out of common towers in the country with the issuance of registration certificates to more than a dozen companies.

In a statement, the DICT said 23 provisional independent tower company (ITC) certificates of registration were issued to tower companies with prior memoranda of understanding/agreement (MOU/MOA) with the department.

The provisional certificate serves as the provisional authority to own, construct, manage, and operate one or more Passive Telecommunications Towers Infrastructures, according to the DICT.

“Due to the ongoing health crisis and in compliance with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive, provisional certificates of registrations were granted to ITCs that already have existing MOUs/MOAs with DICT,” Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.

“This should provide them with ample time to complete all the requirements for full ITC registration and permitting within the time period. Likewise, this should also provide enough time for ITCs to start their roll-out,” Honasan said.

The 23 ITCs with existing MOUs/MOAs are deemed registered under DICT Department Circular 008 series of 2020 or the “Policy Guidelines on the Co-Location and Sharing of Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure for Macro Cell Sites,” provided that said ITCs promptly file their complete documentary requirements and pay the necessary processing fees for full registration as an ITC.

The 23 ITCs with provisional ITC certificates of registration are the following:

•     Aboitiz Infracapital, Inc.
•     ACODA Towers SDN BHD
•     Alt-Global-Solutions Inc.
•     Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), Inc.
•     China Construction First Group Corp. and Wingan Construction and Development Corporation
•     China Construction Yangtze River (M) SDN BHD
•     China Energy Equipment Co., Ltd
•     CREI Management Services FZE
•     Desarrollos Terrestres, Inc.
•     EEI Corporation
•     Frontier Tower Associates Philippines, Inc.
•     IHS Holding Limited
•     Inforient Sdn. Bhd.
•     ISOC EDOTCO Towers, Inc.
•     ISON Tower Ltd. Inc.
•     J.S Cruz Construction and Development Inc.
•     MGS Construction Inc.
•     Phil-Tower Consortium Inc.
•     RT Telecom SDN. BHD.
•     Shinheung Telecom Co., Ltd.
•     Tamoin Industrial Services Corporation
•     Tiger Infrastructure Pte. Ltd.
•     UA Withya Public Company Ltd.

The provisional certificate is valid until December 31, 2020.

“We need these tower companies to continue mobilizing and building out towers now, that’s why we granted them this provisional certificate to ease their transition under the new circular,” Honasan said.

“We have to be diligent to ensure capacity of certified ITCs and we need to balance diligence with the urgency to improve our current ICT infrastructure,” he added.

The DICT called on interested tower companies to register through its online portal.

The procedure, list of complete documentary requirements, and information on how to qualify as an ITC can be found in the portal, it said.

Pursuant to DC No. 11, s. 2020, all applicants for ITC registration shall complete their submission of the original, notarized, authenticated, and/or certified true copies of all required documents, together with the duly accomplished and notarized application form, to the DICT in person, by courier/mail, or through postage prepaid, within 30 days after the state of public health emergency is lifted.

For applicants with denied registration, the DICT will inform them of the reason for the disapproval of their application.

“This new registration system is a big step towards our goal of reducing procedural delays in the permitting of ITCs. This will also allow the continuance of our services amid the community quarantine. With the application now done online, we hope to encourage more ITCs to register with the DICT and avail of the advantages of the whole common tower initiative,” Honasan said.

“All of these efforts that we are doing are in response to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s call to improve the Philippines’ Internet connectivity,” he added.—AOL, GMA News