MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC), a joint venture between Meralco subsidiary MIESCOR and Stonepeak, announced the first closing for its P26.2-billion tower acquisition of a portfolio of telecom towers from Globe Telecom, Inc.

The parties, in separate disclosures, confirmed on Friday that they closed 701 towers out of the 2,180 to be acquired by MIDC for approximately P8.4 billion last 14 October.

"We look forward to identifying additional compelling opportunities to invest behind the mobile tower industry in the Philippines and by doing so continue to enhance the region's digital infrastructure for the communities that depend on it," Stonepeak Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia and the Middle East Hajir Naghdy said.

MIDC and Globe said they will keep the staggered schedule of tower transfers on track for completion in the third quarter of 2023.

Anchor tenant

Under the master lease agreement, Globe will be the anchor tenant of the telco towers for an initial period of 15 years.

MIDC is collaborating with Globe on 750 build-to-suit towers, which will be delivered to the company over the next four years and on which Globe will be the anchor tenant.

The MIDC-Globe agreement will benefit ordinary consumers as it helps telco companies improve network quality and build a more resilient infrastructure capable of quickly recovering from, if not enduring, disasters and other calamities.

Globe Telecom is monetizing to fund network expansion and sustain network consistency and reliability scores.