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| LCS Group Takes Lead in DICT’s Common Tower Initiative |
Telecommunications companies may use common towers as carrier-neutral relay stations to enter more areas with more consistent signals. These towers are not designed or operated by telcos but rather by private companies. Telcos can pay the Popular Tower Providers a fee to use the towers, similar to a tollway.
The LCS Group is one of these providers, having recently completed their 30th Common Tower, the most recent in Alicia, Isabella (pictured), with hundreds more currently under construction.
“We completely endorse the DICT's directive authorizing independent providers to build towers,” said LCS Group Vice Chairman Architect Richelle Singson-Michael. “The ‘sharing economy' has wreaked havoc on the tech sector, and the same ideas can be applied to the telco industry to save them from having to invest in and run their own towers.”
“With our shared infrastructure, we have effectively shortened the network roll out and expansion times of both current and future service providers, thereby expediting their go-to-market strategies,” said LCS CEO (ICT) Aaron H Tan.
See Also: LCS Holdings, DITO Telecommunity Team Up for PH's First Shared Telco Tower
According to DICT estimates, the two big telcos, PLDT and Globe, run a combined number of over 16,000 cell sites nationwide. DITO Telecommunity, a new telco, plans to complete 3,200 sites by July 2021, with 1,920 towers already completed as of April 30.
In terms of tower construction, the Philippines currently lags behind its neighbors Vietnam and Indonesia, which each have about 70,000 to 90,000 towers. For the millions of Filipinos who are still operating from home due to the global pandemic, catching up to them will mean better facilities, safer transactions, and easier communication.
Since the designing and construction of these towers is very labor-intensive, and providers like LCS are aware of the neighborhoods where the towers are built, Architect Richelle sees the Popular Towers as economic invigorators. “We always make it a point to hire local experts and labor,” she continued, “because our job isn't finished if only the telcos and the Last Mile are satisfied; we at LCS take it upon ourselves to add value to every single community where our towers are located.”
The LCS Group plans to finish its 100th tower by the end of May 2021 and build over 5,000 towers in the next four years.