Globe Telecom Inc. has secured permits from 85 local government units (LGU) to build 190 cellsite towers from as far as Bangued in Northern Luzon and Butuan City in the Caraga Administrative Region in Northeastern Mindanao.
This is on top of the 900 cellsites to be built by five shared telecommunications tower companies: Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., ISOC-edotco, Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines), CREI Philippines and Frontier Towers & Associates.
The issuance by LGUs of the permits is in compliance to Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 01 s. 2020 of the Department of Information and Communications Technology and other government agencies for LGUs to shorten the processing of requirements and construction of common towers from the previous average of 200 days to only 16 days.
The LGUs which granted Globe early permits include Agoo, Bangued, Binalonan, Sto. Domingo and Vigan in Northern Luzon; San Pablo, Sto. Tomas, San Jose, Mendez, Rosario and Magdalena in Southern Tagalog; Las Piñas; Angono and Teresa in Rizal; Victorias and Sta. Barbara in Visayas; and Butuan in Mindanao.
Additional permits were obtained to start the construction of cellsites in La Union, Sta. Lucia in Ilocos Sur, Bangued and Lagangilang in Abra, Pangasinan, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Tarlac, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Zambales, Albay, Quezon, Antipolo City, Angono in Rizal, as well as in Pasig City, Manila, Quezon City, Valenzuela, Caloocan, San Juan and Pasay in Metro Manila.
The go signal has also been secured in Dumaguete City and San Jose in Negros Oriental; Roxas City in Capiz; Barotac Nuevo and Calinog in Iloilo; Babatngon in Leyte; Brooke’s Point and Puerto Princesa in Palawan; Kalibo and Tibiao in Panay; and Bogo and Cebu City in Cebu.
At least 40 LGUs have removed the requirement that telcos secure a permit from their respective Sanggunian Bayan as part of the approval process to put up a cellsite.