Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said the process of securing permits to install common telco towers has been significantly reduced to 16 days from 241 days following the recent signing of a joint memorandum circular (JMC).
To support its network expansion program for its 4G/LTE and 5G services, Smart Communications said it has already signed agreements with six tower companies to build a pilot batch of almost 200 macro cell sites and is currently finalizing agreements with four more.
DICT secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II said collocating with common towers will help telcos cut back on their expenses allocated in building up and maintaining their own towers.
The DICT has signed a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) with eight other national government agencies to streamline requirements and reduce procedural delays in securing the necessary permits for common towers.
The highly touted common tower policy of the government appears to be going nowhere as local operator Globe Telecom announced on Thursday, July 9, that it is putting up its own cell sites in different parts of the country this year.
Even as the DICT is eyeing to reduce the permits for common tower this year, Globe said it will build more cell sites of its own in different parts of the country in the next three months.
After three months of delay, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has officially released the formal guidelines for the government’s common tower policy.
House Resolution No. 946 calls for government agencies to collaborate and consult with LGUs to iron out the delays in the implementation of the common tower policy.
Resigned DICT undersecretary Eliseo M. Rio took to social media to throw a subtle dig at the man who replaced him at the agency – former presidential adviser for ICT Ramon “RJ” Jacinto.
