34 new tower permits issued to Smart

In a statement, Smart said the new permits brings the total number of building and pre-construction permits for telecommunications (telco) towers issued to Smart at 211 since August. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – The accelerated nationwide tower rollout of Smart Communications (Smart) continues as it received 34 building permits on Wednesday.

In a statement, Smart said the new permits brings the total number of building and pre-construction permits for telecommunications (telco) towers issued to Smart at 211 since August.

“These permits cover towers to be built in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Batangas, Rizal, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Leyte, Samar, Southern Leyte, Camiguin, Davao Del Norte, Davao Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Misamis Oriental, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, among others,” it said.

Alfredo Panlilio, Smart president and chief executive officer, said Smart typically builds 1,000 to 1,500 towers annually — an average of about 83 to 125 towers per month.

“The initiative of government to make it easier for us to build more towers quicker will be a big help in terms of improving coverage,” Panlilio said.

He noted that aside from mobile towers, the company also needs other infrastructures to develop the country’s internet service.

“Aside from towers, we need an extensive fiber-optic network and we currently have at least 360,000 kilometers of a fiber-optic network.

We also have data centers and partners for international capacity. That’s the kind of large-scale network that you would need to build in order to offer a competitive service,” Panlilio said.

Currently, he said Smart has about 10,000 macro and micro-cell sites and more than 20,000 LTE base stations in the country.