DICT issues provisional certificates to 23 independent tower companies
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has issued provisional certificates of registration to 23 independent tower companies (ITC) with prior memorandum of understanding or agreement with the agency.
In a statement Tuesday, DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan explained that the provisional certificates serve as provisional authority to own, construct, manage, and operate one or more passive telecommunications towers infrastructures.
“Due to the ongoing health crisis and in compliance with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive, provisional certificates of registrations were granted to ITCs that already have existing MOUs/MOAs with DICT,” Honasan said.
“This should provide them with ample time to complete all the requirements for full ITC registration and permitting within the time period. Likewise, this should also provide enough time for ITCs to start their roll-out,” he added.
The 24 ITC participants under the previous common tower program were downgraded to 23 after the “consolidation” of two companies, according to Honasan.
The provisional certificates are valid until December 31, 2020.
“We need these tower companies to continue mobilizing and building out towers now, that’s why we granted them this provisional certificate to ease their transition under the new circular,” the DICT chief said.
“We have to be diligent to ensure capacity of certified ITCs and we need to balance diligence with the urgency to improve our current ICT infrastructure,” he added.
With this new development, Honasan said the ITCs are now deemed registered under the DICT Department Circular 008 Series of 2020 or the Policy Guidelines on the Co-Location and Sharing of Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure for Macro Cell Sites, provided that the ITCs promptly file their complete documentary requirements and pay the necessary processing fees for full registration.
Below are the 23 ITCs with provisional certificates of registration:
1. Aboitiz Infracapital, Inc.
2. ACODA Towers SDN BHD
3. Alt-Global-Solutions Inc.
4. Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), Inc.
5. China Construction First Group Corp. and Wingan Construction and Development Corporation
6. China Construction Yangtze River (M) SDN BHD
7. China Energy Equipment Co., Ltd
8. CREI Management Services FZE
9. Desarrollos Terrestres, Inc.
10. EEI Corporation
11. Frontier Tower Associates Philippines, Inc.
12. IHS Holding Limited
13. Inforient Sdn. Bhd.
14. ISOC EDOTCO Towers, Inc.
15. ISON Tower Ltd. Inc.
16. J.S Cruz Construction and Development Inc.
17. MGS Construction Inc.
18. Phil-Tower Consortium Inc.
19. RT Telecom SDN. BHD.
20. Shinheung Telecom Co., Ltd.
21. Tamoin Industrial Services Corporation
22. Tiger Infrastructure Pte. Ltd.
23. UA Withya Public Company Ltd.
Honasan said other tower companies interested in registering with the DICT may now do so online through the DICT’s ITC Registration Portal at https://commontower.gov.ph/.
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