Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has tapped six common tower companies and is finalizing agreements with four more to speed up its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G mobile network roll out after regulators approved the simplified permit process.
The first six - Phil Tower Consortium, ISOC edotco Towers, Inc., Frontier Tower Associates Philippines, Inc., ALT Global Solutions, Inc., Communication and Renewable Energy
Infrastructure (CREI) Phils., Inc., and Ison Tower Ltd. Inc., will build a pilot batch of almost 200 macro cell sites.
The common tower strategy is part of parent company PLDT and Smart’s broader effort to improve services, particularly for data, across the country.
The agreements also support the government’s common tower program to improved internet speeds and nationwide coverage through the construction of new cell sites.
To date, Smart's mobile broadband service is available in 93% of the country’s municipalities and serves 95% of the population. The PLDT Group’s network investments of P260 billion over the past five years enabled its networks to meet the traffic surgr and bring new technologies such as LTE and 5G.