Globe becomes 1st telco to support DICT by signing MOU with ISOC, edotco to build common towers
Manila, 17 June 2019 – Globe Telecom has entered into a tripartite agreement with ISOC Infrastructure Inc. and Malaysia-based tower giant edotco Group Sdn. Bhd., becoming the first telecommunications company to support the common tower direction of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu revealed that the company is taking the first step towards improving ICT infrastructure in the Philippines by being the first telco to tap a tower company (towerco) recognized by DICT.
“ICT infrastructure is the foundation of a highly-connected economy. While we have made a significant improvement in terms of quality of internet experience, we still have a large gap to fill in order to be at par with our neighbors in terms of ICT infrastructure,” Cu said.
Cu said that ISOC and edotco, which were the first towercos to seek vendor accreditation with Globe, will build an initial 150 sites. “This is why we should work together and speed up the building and deployment of cellular towers in the country to improve the quality of experience of our customers.”
ISOC and edotco partnering for the Globe agreement, are the first two tower companies that signed an MOU with DICT. DICT targets to build at least 50,000 new common towers across the country in the next seven to ten years even as it plans to accelerate the building of 2,500 common towers in properties owned by government agencies. The DICT has yet to release the Common Tower Policy.
Michael Cosiquien, Chairman of ISOC Infrastructure, Inc., recognizes the milestone in this MOU, “Today marks the beginning of great things. What was once a concept is made concrete and together with edotco, we are grateful for the leadership of government, and the support of Globe, in finally making this a reality. Telco is a bridge to the world, and with the common towers initiative, we, along with our partner edotco, are committed to help provide the Filipino people the information highway they deserve.”
Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco Group Sdn Bhd said, “We are very encouraged by the DICT’s decision to open the market and accredit independent tower companies. Our efforts in the Philippines are motivated by the clear opportunity to reshape the telecommunications landscape and as an independent tower company, we are in the right position to facilitate and manage these advancements. Infrastructure sharing has proven to help mobile network operators focus on their core business and service offerings by alleviating the cost pressure of building and maintaining towers. We have partnered with governments, regulators and operators in all the countries in which we are present and have a wealth of best practices that we hope to implement here. Our focus is not merely addressing digital gaps today but on building sharable infrastructure for the future, creating the right environment for the nation’s digital transformation aspirations”.
Unlike in other countries, spending for ICT infrastructure in the Philippines is most of the time, the sole responsibility of the private sector. Thus other countries have more cell sites than the Philippines. For instance, Vietnam has 90,000 cellular towers compared to the Philippines’ 17,850 cell sites while recent data from TowerXchange showed that even Pakistan has 34,300 while Bangladesh has 30,000 cellular towers.
About Globe
About ISOC
ISOC Infrastructure, Inc. is the pioneer in the common tower initiative of the Philippines. Their leadership has a proven track record in infrastructure and innovation, and the company is currently working on projects that spur economic growth and development in urban and rural areas. ISOC was the first to submit an unsolicited proposal and the first to sign an MOU with the DICT on common telco towers for the Philippines.
About edotco Group
Established in 2012, edotco Group is the first regional and integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia, providing end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector from tower leasing, co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance (O&M).
edotco Group operates and manages a regional portfolio of over 30,000 towers across core markets of Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with 18,500 towers directly operated by edotco and a further 11,500 towers managed through a range of services provided. edotco strives to deliver outstanding performance in telecommunications infrastructure services and solutions. Its state- of-the-art real-time monitoring service, echo, has driven significant improvements in field operations while maximizing operational efficiencies in terms of battery, energy and fuel consumption for telecommunications infrastructure.
edotco Group was recently awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2019 Asia Pacific Telecoms Tower Company of the Year Award for its demonstrated exemplary business growth and performance in Southeast Asia.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Annushia Balavijendran
edotco Group Corporate Communications
Tel: +603 2268 6014
E-mail: annushia@isoc-edotco.com
Globe becomes 1st telco to support DICT by signing MOU with ISOC, edotco to build common towers
Manila, 17 June 2019 – Globe Telecom has entered into a tripartite agreement with ISOC Infrastructure Inc. and Malaysia-based tower giant edotco Group Sdn. Bhd., becoming the first telecommunications company to support the common tower direction of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu revealed that the company is taking the first step towards improving ICT infrastructure in the Philippines by being the first telco to tap a tower company (towerco) recognized by DICT.
“ICT infrastructure is the foundation of a highly-connected economy. While we have made a significant improvement in terms of quality of internet experience, we still have a large gap to fill in order to be at par with our neighbors in terms of ICT infrastructure,” Cu said.
Cu said that ISOC and edotco, which were the first towercos to seek vendor accreditation with Globe, will build an initial 150 sites. “This is why we should work together and speed up the building and deployment of cellular towers in the country to improve the quality of experience of our customers.”
ISOC and edotco partnering for the Globe agreement, are the first two tower companies that signed an MOU with DICT. DICT targets to build at least 50,000 new common towers across the country in the next seven to ten years even as it plans to accelerate the building of 2,500 common towers in properties owned by government agencies. The DICT has yet to release the Common Tower Policy.
Michael Cosiquien, Chairman of ISOC Infrastructure, Inc., recognizes the milestone in this MOU, “Today marks the beginning of great things. What was once a concept is made concrete and together with edotco, we are grateful for the leadership of government, and the support of Globe, in finally making this a reality. Telco is a bridge to the world, and with the common towers initiative, we, along with our partner edotco, are committed to help provide the Filipino people the information highway they deserve.”
Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco Group Sdn Bhd said, “We are very encouraged by the DICT’s decision to open the market and accredit independent tower companies. Our efforts in the Philippines are motivated by the clear opportunity to reshape the telecommunications landscape and as an independent tower company, we are in the right position to facilitate and manage these advancements. Infrastructure sharing has proven to help mobile network operators focus on their core business and service offerings by alleviating the cost pressure of building and maintaining towers. We have partnered with governments, regulators and operators in all the countries in which we are present and have a wealth of best practices that we hope to implement here. Our focus is not merely addressing digital gaps today but on building sharable infrastructure for the future, creating the right environment for the nation’s digital transformation aspirations”.
Unlike in other countries, spending for ICT infrastructure in the Philippines is most of the time, the sole responsibility of the private sector. Thus other countries have more cell sites than the Philippines. For instance, Vietnam has 90,000 cellular towers compared to the Philippines’ 17,850 cell sites while recent data from TowerXchange showed that even Pakistan has 34,300 while Bangladesh has 30,000 cellular towers.
About Globe
About ISOC
ISOC Infrastructure, Inc. is the pioneer in the common tower initiative of the Philippines. Their leadership has a proven track record in infrastructure and innovation, and the company is currently working on projects that spur economic growth and development in urban and rural areas. ISOC was the first to submit an unsolicited proposal and the first to sign an MOU with the DICT on common telco towers for the Philippines.
About edotco Group
Established in 2012, edotco Group is the first regional and integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia, providing end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector from tower leasing, co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance (O&M).
edotco Group operates and manages a regional portfolio of over 30,000 towers across core markets of Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with 18,500 towers directly operated by edotco and a further 11,500 towers managed through a range of services provided. edotco strives to deliver outstanding performance in telecommunications infrastructure services and solutions. Its state- of-the-art real-time monitoring service, echo, has driven significant improvements in field operations while maximizing operational efficiencies in terms of battery, energy and fuel consumption for telecommunications infrastructure.
edotco Group was recently awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2019 Asia Pacific Telecoms Tower Company of the Year Award for its demonstrated exemplary business growth and performance in Southeast Asia.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Annushia Balavijendran
edotco Group Corporate Communications
Tel: +603 2268 6014
E-mail: annushia@isoc-edotco.com