Ayala-led Globe Telecom said the government’s move to prohibit telco firms from building their own cellular towers is a monopolistic act.
Froilan Castelo, general counsel of Globe, pointed out that the company is authorized under its charter to put up its own network.
“They can only amend that through Congress. Not even Malacanang can amend that,” Castelo said.
Castelo, however, stressed that Globe has no objection to the goverment’s plan to build its own cell towers which will be leased to telco firms.
“In fact we encourage this especially in the unserved and underserved markets. But our concern is we are being prohibited to build our own which runs contrary to international practice,? he said.
PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said they should still be allowed to build their own cellular towers pursuant ro the requirements of PLDT or Smart.
?Under our franchise we are authorize to put our own networks that an act of Congress. They can only amend that though Congress and not even Malacanang can amend that,? he added.
?It?s entirely up to the government to build its own towers. I think that?s their plan. If they?re willing to lease the towers to us, we might lease the towers that we need from them. But we also need some flexibility to decide where to put up our own towers,” Pangilinan said.
The Philippine needs at least around 50,000 cellular towers to be able to provide adequate service.
