ABOITIZ InfraCapital Inc. (Aboitiz InfraCapital) , the infrastructure business unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., entered into a cooperation agreement with Frontier Tower Associates Philippines, Inc. (FTAP) on June 19, 2019 for the development, construction, operation and maintenance of a network of new towers throughout the Philippines in its bid to vastly improve and expand the country’s cellular and telecommunications capabilities.
Aboitiz InfraCapital will bring to this project the Aboitiz Group’s extensive experience in building and operating provincial utility networks such as Visayan Electric Co., Davao Light and Power Co., and Cotabato Light and Power Co. It will also leverage the Aboitiz Group’s technical expertise and project management skills developed through a formidable track record in managing and executing complex projects.
"We are happy to announce our partnership with FTAP. Throughout our discussions, it has become clear that our values and objectives are strongly aligned,” said Cosette V. Canilao, Aboitiz InfraCapital chief operating officer.
“We truly believe that we will be able to deliver a common tower solution that is fast and effective, paving the way for greater quality and coverage in the telecommunications sector. Amid the country's growth momentum and the government’s commitment to bolster further advancement, Aboitiz InfraCapital aims to build the right infrastructure that will advance business and communities,” Canilao added.
FTAP is a member of the Frontier Tower Associates Group (FTA), an established international tower operator and service provider, specialized in rapidly building high-quality towers. FTAP’s chairman founded the largest tower company in Myanmar before launching operations in Indonesia and the Philippines.
“We are pleased to join Aboitiz, a Group with a long-established tradition of integrity and excellence in Filipino infrastructure, to provide best-of-class common tower solutions that help wireless network operators to meet their goals of expanding the availability and quality of wireless voice and data services in the Philippines,” said FTAP chairman Patrick Tangney.
“We have rolled out and operated thousands of towers in the ASEAN region; our operations team has also in the past rolled out more than 1,000 towers in the Philippines that form a core part of existing mobile phone networks. In the runup to our launch, the FTAP-Aboitiz team has been conducting radio planning in a number of regions, developing tower designs specific to the Philippines, and building a landbank of site locations relevant for mobile phone companies,” Tangney added.
The partnership between Aboitiz InfraCapital and FTAP is in response to the Department of Information and Communication Technology’s (DICT) call for common tower providers to aid in developing and rolling out at least 50,000 new telecommunications towers. This initiative ultimately provides a robust and long-term solution to address the nation’s dearth of telecommunications towers. (PR)