The Philippines' Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is looking to partner with telcos in order to fast track the rollout of the government’s common tower initiative.
The DICT is proposing to sign partnership with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and with each telco company to build 50,000 common towers in seven years. The DICT and NTC will identify sites where common towers are recommended to be built, with a target of 3,000 sites on Year 1 and gradually increasing it to 10,000 sites from Year 5 to Year 7. Telcos will also coordinate with the two parties in the identification of priority sites.
The DICT targets the finalization of the Common Tower policy within a month after the telcos release the list of sites earmarked for tower roll-out. In addition, it will facilitate the creation of a inter-agency one-stop shop for expedient processing of licenses, clearances, permits, certifications or authorization, in coordination with other concerned government agencies.