DITO Telecommunity today (July 23) activated the first of its 100 common towers with the LCS Group in Valenzuela City and targets to complete a total of 300 towers by end of 2021, together with other independent tower contractors.
For its part, “We commit to roll out as much as 6,000 towers in the next few years with strategic partnerships to ensure connectivity,” says Mayor Chavit Singson, Chairman of the LCS Group.
DITO was the first mobile network operator (MNO) to take advantage of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTI) Policy.
"We hope to widen the base of common towers and speed up internet deployment by allowing telcos and Internet service providers to share cell towers,” DICT Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” B. Honasan II remarked during today's inspection of the LCS common tower.
“The government and the private sector need to work closely together in upgrading cell towers to address increasing demand for data generated by the millions of online users in the new normal,” he added.
The LCS Group of companies, has been leading the construction of more than 100 common towers spread in various stages of completion across Luzon and strategic NCR areas.
Forming a network of main thoroughfares for MNOs to capitalize on, these towers are composed of Self Support Towers, Rapid Deployment Station Towers and Rooftop Towers.
“Our towers are designed to be shared by all telcos and service providers," according to LCS Group Vice Chairperson Architect Richelle Singson-Michael.
"The infrastructure roll out would not only create a sustainable common tower industry but also allow MNOs to instead invest more of their capital resources towards areas of technology, coverage, innovation and competitive pricing,” she explained.
“The government’s common tower policy allows us to tap local partners to support our network rollout, without having to build everything from scratch," noted Atty. Adel Tamano, DITO Chief Administrative Officer.
DITO Telecommunity today activated a Rapid Deployment Station (RDS) Telecom Tower with faster set up structure that incorporates tower body, fencing and foundation in one.
The RDS can be deployed and disassembled in a few days without the extensive excavation and foundation construction and is ideal in areas where suitable land and elevated buildings are scarce.
This structure stands 20 meters high and can be constructed in strategic NCR regions to cater to the 3 MNOs.