MANILA - The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Wednesday telecommunications providers should take advantage of the common tower initiative to expand connectivity in underserved and unserved areas.

The agency also supports President Rodrigo Duterte's call for improved telecommunication services, DICT Secretary Gringo Honasan said in a statement.

Duterte threatened to shut telco providers Globe Telecom and Smart, a PLDT unit, if improvement won't be made by December.

Third telecommunications DITO Telecommunity, a consortium of Dennis Uy's Udenna Corp and Chelsea Logistics with China Telecom, is set to launch commercially in March 2021. It is currently building towers nationwide.

"We encourage telcos to take full advantage of the benefits of our common tower initiative, and engage with the ITC sector more actively, especially when it comes to providing connectivity to the unserved and underserved areas in the country," Honasan said

"We should work together towards a better, more robust, and future-proofed ICT environment. This is in line with the spirit of bayanihan, which President Duterte clearly articulated in his SONA," he added.

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Co-locating with common towers will not only help expand coverage but will help telcos save on building and maintenance expenses, the DICT said.

Former DICT-OIC Eliseo Rio earlier said the government wants 50,000 telco towers built in 5 years.

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