BIG-TIME INVESTMENT
Malaysia’s edotco Group commits
to PH tower and power industries
Text and photo by Monsi A. Serrano
There is a need to move quickly if this government is to achieve its ambitious goal of interconnectivity throughout the archipelago.
Malaysia-based tower giant edotco Group Sdn. Bhd. understands this demand very well when it stepped in to be the first independent firm to penetrate the local telecommunications industry and take on the challenge of building common telecommunications infrastructure for Globe Telecom.
“Interconnectivity means productivity,” Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco Group Sdn Bhd, told media at a press conference in Manila Peninsula Hotel, Makati City on Monday, June 17. He said his group could be no less excited to speed up its work and prove to be a worthy investor and supporter of government’s thrust to improve interconnectivity for all Filipinos.
“We will be building a lot of towers for the common usage of the carriers. Telco is a capital intensive industry that demands a lot of investment and edotco is ready for that,” he assured the local press.
“We have already completed our MOU with Globe Telecom and ISOC Infrastructure this morning, and we are all very excited in this partnerships,” he said.
But while edotco intends to move as quickly as the demand for interconnectivity grows, the CEO said a lot of paperwork has to be done.
“How many towers we can build depends solely on how fast the government will be able to manage the regulatory framework and permit. But we are optimistic that the initial 150 new common towers which we intend to complete by the end of 2019 will materialize, or if not would spoil over 2020,” the edotco CEO added.
He also lauded DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio, Jr., whom he described as having a “very clear vision about what the Philippines needs in terms of coping with your ASEAN neighbors with regard to Internet connection.
What is interesting about the common towers to be put up by edotco is that they can be used for information and communications technology (ICT) but for power, which makes them “horizontally integrated.”
Sidhu said edotco is not only invested in the Philippines’ telecommunications industry, but also plans to assist by way of its best expertise to power companies in the country.
“Once the towers for telco are there, then those companies thinking of building towers for power can just lease with us. That would save time and a lot of money for them,” he explained.
Having a track record not just in Malaysia but also in other countries, edotco is an independent tower company that is not just willing to invest but also has the capacity to facilitate and manage the advancements of Philippines’ connectivity and power needs.
“What we are doing to the Philippines is foreign direct investment. Because building a tower would entail a lot of capital and when we stop operating in the Philippines, we cannot take these towers with us anymore,” he concluded.