Globe Telecom signed agreements with tower companies ISOC Infrastructure and edotco to initially build 150 sites across the Philippines, as part of a government push to improve access.

In a statement, Globe Telecom president and CEO Ernest Cu, said the operator was the first to back a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) common tower initiative. “The building and deployment of cellular towers in the country are critical if we hope to change the internet experience of our customers.”

He said while it had made significant improvements on the quality of internet experience, there is still a large gap to fill “so we can be at par with our neighbours in terms of infrastructure”.

DICT made a number of moves in March to accelerate its common tower initiative, which aims to deploy 50,000 towers across in the next seven-to-ten years, Globe Telecom stated.

It added DICT had since signed 23 agreements with tower companies, but the country’s government is yet to finalise a policy on governing the infrastructure operators.

Suresh Sidhu, CEO of Malaysia-based edotco, noted infrastructure sharing has proven to help mobile network operators focus on their core business and service offerings by alleviating the cost pressure of building and maintaining towers.

“Our focus is not merely addressing digital gaps today but on building shareable infrastructure for the future, creating the right environment for the nation’s digital transformation aspirations,” he said.