PLDT Inc. completed the sale of 3,012 telecom towers, more than half of the towers it is monetizing, and received P39.2 billion cash payment, the telco disclosed Wednesday, June 1.
This April, PLDT subsidiaries, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (Digitel), signed a P77 billion Sale and Purchase Agreements for 5,907 telecom towers and related passive telecom infrastructure with a subsidiary of EdgePoint and a subsidiary of edotco (the TowerCos).
Less than one and a half months from the signing of those Sale and Purchase Agreements, PLDT today announced that Smart and Digitel successfully achieved first closing by completing the sale of the 3,012 telecom towers.
Simultaneously, the Master Services Agreements covering the leaseback arrangements for these towers took effect.
As the largest ever acquisition of assets in the Philippines by international investors, this investment by international tower operators represents a strong endorsement of the country’s recovery from the pandemic and its long-term growth prospects.
The pioneer undertaking also supported the Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology’s goal of improving tower density to boost connectivity across the archipelago.
PLDT foresees additional closings in the next few months as the transaction is staggered based on number of towers being transferred, with final closing expected by the fourth quarter of this year.