DICT launches online application portal for tower builders

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) seeks to streamline the process of applying to participate in the local tower sharing market with the launch of an online portal. 

File photo: Cell tower in Pasig

Online application portal for tower builders

In a statement posted on its website, the agency said aspiring common tower players may check and submit the requirements to commontower.gov.ph.

Under the online procedure, applicants must fill out the application form and attach the complete required documents at the ITC Registration Page. The procedure, list of complete documentary requirements, and information on how to qualify as an ITC can be found in the Common Tower Registration Portal, the DICT said.

The department said the move was its "response to digitalizing the application procedure for registration of Independent Tower Companies (ITC) engaged in the business of establishing or operating one or more Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructures (PTTI), commonly known as "common towers". 

The DICT noted it has already existing agreements with 24 tower builders.

Thirteen more players seek to enter the country's common tower industry, 70 percent of which are foreign-owned.

Last week, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)  said about 1,500 permits for establishing cell sites across the country that have been approved after President Rodrigo Duterte hit the slow permitting process.

From the usual over 200 days of securing permits to establish a single tower, the government cuts it to an average of 16 days.

Source: DICT