The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) yesterday warned against the operation of unregistered independent tower companies (ITC), saying the government only registered 21 ITCs.
The 21 ITCs include Unity Digital Infrastructure Inc.; American Towers Inc. ATC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., through Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines) Inc.; EDOTCO Group SDN BHD, through ISOC Edotco Towers Inc.; Phil-Tower Consortium Inc.; and MIESCOR Infrastructure Development Corp.
The certificate of registration of these ITCs is valid until 2025 to 2028 and subject to renewal.
Meanwhile, the DICT yesterday received information that several unverified ITCs are requesting information and/or proposing to purchase properties as sites for cellular towers, introducing themselves as the third telecommunity tower provider in the Philippines.
DICT informed the public that said companies are in no way connected to the department nor are their actions sanctioned by the Philippine government.
“The general public is advised to exercise extreme caution and due diligence when handing sensitive information to unverified and unauthorized ITC entities,” DICT said.
An investigation regarding such incident has been ordered and is being conducted currently, the agency added.
The ITC certificate of registration issued by the DICT is valid for five years and renewable for the same period.
The provisional certificate serves as the provisional authority to own, construct, manage and operate one or more passive telecommunications towers infrastructure.
DICT aims to increase the number of towers in the country from 18,000 to 50,000 in the next five to 10 years.
