PLDT-Smart ramps up tower rollout nationwide!

In line with the government's efforts to help improve the quality and coverage of telecommunications services in the Philippines, PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. earlier shared that it has accelerated its nationwide tower rollout.

File photo: Smart 4G LTE tower

More Smart towers are coming!

Smart shared that it has obtained 34 new building permits. This brings the total number of building and preconstruction permits issued by the government to 211 following the government's Anti-Red Tape Authority which issued a Joint Memorandum Circular in August.

Smart said that the permits will cover towers to be build in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Batangas, Rizal, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Leyte, Samar, Southern Leyte, Camiguin, Davao Del Norte, Davao Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Misamis Oriental, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, among others.

Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart President and CEO and PLDT Chief Revenue Officer said that Panlilio said that Smart typically builds around 1,000 to 1,500 towers annually. He emphasized that while building more towers is key to improving coverage, these are just one part of PLDT's network infrastructure.

Towers are just one element in the mobile network infrastructure of PLDT, and we have both fixed and mobile infrastructures. We have about 10,000 macro and micro-cellsites and more than 20,000 LTE base stations scattered across the country. Aside from towers, we need an extensive fiber optic network and we currently have at least 360,000 kilometers of fiber optic network. We also have data centers and partners for international capacity. That's the kind of large-scale network that you would need to build in order to offer a competitive service, he said.

Panlilio added that building more towers will also be crucial to the company’s 5G rollout, as the technology would require additional facilities.

In 2020, the company's capex is about PHP 70 billion.

See also: PH telcos are intensifying 4G network upgrades parallel with 5G rollout