Telcos to build new cell sites in remote areas

The country’s three mobile network operators (MNOs) have presented a blueprint to Malacañang to reach over 7,000 Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) by expanding network infrastructure with new tower builds between 2025 and 2028.

In a recent meeting of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), the body’s Connectivity Plan Task Force (CPTF) headed by Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu proposed the construction of new towers in remote parts of the country through a public-private collaboration.

The proposal aims to bridge the digital divide by delivering essential telecom services to the Philippines' most underserved communities. 

Currently, 7,063 barangays are classified as GIDAs, home to nearly 25 million residents. Cu said that, as of 2024, over 600 Globe cell sites were already operational in GIDAs.

In a major push to expand coverage, the country’s three MNOs proposed to maximize utilization of existing towers and build new infrastructure in GIDAs. 

The telcos also proposed to provide SIMs with data plans through government subsidy to unconnected Filipino households between this year and 2028.

The SIMs will include automatic monthly load seeding of 50GB for a year, which can cover the average usage of a five-member household. 

This ensures that even remote communities can be connected with mobile signals and the internet, enhancing their access to education, healthcare, government services, and economic opportunities.

"The telco industry is fully dedicated to leveraging our partnership within the industry and with the government to reach underserved areas where the private sector has been unable to build because of the negative cost to business,” said Cu.

He added that “Once the government lays a bigger stake in our push for inclusive connectivity and invests in our proposal, this will mark a milestone in our collective aspiration for a Digital Philippines. Together, we will be able to create pathways to opportunities and essential services that can significantly improve lives.”

By maximizing the use of existing sites while strategically building new ones in underserved areas, the project will minimize overlaps among providers and optimize coverage across the country. 

This allows each barangay in GIDAs to receive telco support from at least one provider, avoiding unnecessary competition and duplication of efforts in a single area.

Beyond the immediate infrastructure rollout, the CPTF is also advocating for critical legislative support to strictly enforce the streamlining of permitting process for new cell sites, ensure consistent energization for telco towers, and rationalize spectrum user fees.

These policy reforms are essential for the efficient deployment of new infrastructure, enabling telcos to serve GIDAs without encountering unnecessary regulatory hurdles.

In its Digital 2024 report released in January this year, Data Reportal said 26.4 percent or over a quarter of Filipinos “remained offline” at the start of the year, indicating that while robust connectivity has been achieved in the country, still a number of the Philippine population lacked internet access.