PLDT completes landmark sale of telco towers

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. completed a landmark sale of telecommunications towers to international telco infrastructure companies Edgepoint and edotco Group.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, PLDT noted that its two subsidiaries, Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. completed the first phase of the deal by inking the sale of 3,012 telecom towers. The PLDT units have received P39.2 billion in cash consideration.

“As the largest-ever acquisition of assets in the Philippines by international investors, this investment by international tower operators represents a strong endorsement of the country’s recovery from the pandemic and its long-term growth prospects,” PLDT said in its disclosure.

“This pioneer undertaking also supports the Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology’s goal of improving tower density which will lead to significant efficiencies and improved connectivity across the Philippines,” PLDT added.

The deal was first announced on April 19, which covers the sale of 5,907 towers and related passive telecom infrastructure for P77 billion to subsidiaries of Edgepoint and edotco Group, both regional telecommunications infrastructure companies which are headquartered in Malaysia.

PLDT noted that the Master Services Agreements that cover leaseback agreements for the towers sold were effective on Wednesday. A leaseback agreement entailed that PLDT could lease back the same assets from Edgepoint and edotco.

The Panglininan-led telco announced there would be additional deals in its pipeline in the coming months, with the transaction expected to be completed by the final quarter of this year.

Shares in PLDT finished midweek trading up 0.37% at P1,907 apiece.

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The article was originally published in PhilStar Global and written by Ramon Royandoyan.