Philippines
Past.
In a country characterized by thousands of islands, an educated and relatively youthful population, telecommunications was critical for the Filipinos to keep in touch with each other and to conduct trade and commerce. However, the telecommunication industry was extremely convoluted post-World War 2 and benefitted only very few people. The telecommunication industry was deregulated in 1995, allowing the private sector and foreign investors to enter the market, in the hope of better services and lower rates. There were many legacy small providers and few dominant players at that time and the telecommunications infrastructure was lagging behind other South East Asian Countries.
Present.
Consolidation has led to 3 major mobile network operators in the Philippines today with a total tower population of 22,000+ across 7,640+ islands in the Philippines. The two dominant operators have about 10,000+ towers each with the newest entrant targeting to develop about 7,000+ towers by 2023. Mobile phone penetration is around 75% with about 60% of the population using smartphones. The Government is implementing policies to fast track universal access to mobile phone coverage and high speed internet access. Recent tower transactions in the Philippines has resulted in over 10,000+ towers changing ownership with the promise of up to an additional 2000+ new towers deployed through 2023.
Future.
Incumbent network operators and independent tower companies are expected to provide 50,000+ towers with a shared fiber optic network in the next few years. Leveraging off business friendly initiatives and policies, it is expected that the deployment of towers in the Philippines and the subsequent access to digital services will be accelerated. With the Government’s strong support for rapid deployment of digital infrastructure, e-Government services, banking and commercial applications shall be universally available to all. Under-served communities can then be integrated into the formal economy to generate economic value. Access to online learning tools and tele-medicine will also improve quality of lives in this diverse archipelago.
Focus on Visayas and Mindanao
Men at work in Northern Mindanao, 7 November 2022
Tiger Infrastructure Philippines’ focus is on the deployment of wireless telecommunication infrastructure in the under-served regions of Visayas and the entire Mindanao region. Development in these regions has been lagging behind Luzon in the past decades. An all-inclusive development plan brought on by better access to digital infrastructure will enable a large motivated, educated and mostly young population to contribute meaningfully to the formal economy and betterment of lives in Visayas and Mindanao.
Latest Happenings
Latest Happenings
ADB, Tiger Infrastructure signs a USD40 million Loan to Support Rural Connectivity in Southern Philippines.