Meralco readies powering towers

Dominant utility Manila Electric Company eyes to power up 50 more common towers of edotco Towers Inc., which bought the tower assets that PLDT Inc. divested.

Meralco said it already energized close to 50 of edotco's common towers, with 50 more planned before the end of the year.

"Meralco (supports) the power supply needs of edotco, also ensuring that along the journey, Meralco will continue its power demand to guarantee adequate and reliable power supply, quick energization for expansion, " Meralco vice president and head of corporate partners Ma. Cecilia Domingo said.

Meralco said it will also facilitate the seamless transfer of service of approximately 700 telco assets within Meralco's franchise area that edotco acquired from PLDT. Likewise, it will conduct the systematic handling of future service applications to ensure timely energization.

Apart from these, the distributor will also provide strategic and technical support to enhance edotco's operational efficiency and offer value-add services — including automatic payment arrangements, enrollment to Peak/Off-Peak Program and Meralco Online, Power Quality consult, and contract right-sizing.

Upgrade mobile towers

According to edotco acting country managing director Suraj Narayanan Kutty, updating the services for its cellular sites is part of its priorities.

"One of the immediate things we want to do is upgrade the service for our cellular sites. This is where we look forward to Meralco supporting this because the speed of energization enables our customers to deliver excellent Internet connectivity services for the Filipinos," he said.

Its expansion would allow all telecommunications companies to collocate in a single tower, thereby eliminating dead spots and reducing the number of cellular sites edotco is an integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia. It is part of the larger edotco Group that manages over 54,000 towers across nine countries in Asia and is majority-owned by Axiata Group, a major telecom operator in Asia.

Last month, PLDT said it received P13.2 billion in cash as payment for 1,013 towers representing the second closing on the sale and leaseback of the company to a subsidiary of EdgePoint and a subsidiary of edotco.

Of the 5,907 towers monetized, 2,973 located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will be acquired by ISOC edotco Towers Inc., and 2,934 in Luzon by Comworks Infratech Corp.