Globe rings up P706M from tower sales
Globe Telecom Inc. received a total of P706 million from the recent closing of its tower asset sales to Miescor Infrastructure Development Corp. (MIDC) and PhilTower Consortium Inc., beefing up its coffers to fund its expansion plans.
The telco giant, in separate disclosures on Monday, reported that it had turned over 44 towers to MIDC for P528 million and transferred 12 towers to PhilTower for P178 million.
The Ayala-led company sealed a P26-billion sale and leaseback agreement with MIDC for its 2,180 towers in 2022. Globe has closed 1,713 towers so far.
In the same year, Globe also sold 1,350 towers to PhilTower for P20 billion. Globe has turned over 1,160 towers as of the latest closing.
In total, Globe sold 7,506 tower assets for P96.4 billion to several tower companies.
Proceeds from the tower sales will fund Globe’s expansion and debt payments.
This year, Globe is set to spend capital expenditures at less than $1 billion, the bulk of which is allocated to meet its data requirements.
In 2023, Globe constructed 1,212 new cell sites, upgraded 4,613 existing mobile sites and deployed 67,456 fiber-to-the-home lines.
The telco giant also added 587 new 5G sites across the country. It now has 98.69-percent coverage in Metro Manila and 96.95-percent coverage in key cities of Visayas and Mindanao.
The sale and leaseback of tower assets is in line with the government’s tower-sharing initiative, which seeks to boost connectivity across the country.
Tower-sharing enables operators to expand their footprint across the country without putting up more facilities, which can also be cost-effective for them.
Instead, operators will lease the towers from the independent tower companies that allow multiple users at a time.
A 2022 study by independent tower company Edotco Group and management consultancy firm Roland Berger estimated that local telco players could save up to $1.15 billion in capital and operational expenditures until 2025 through tower-sharing.
