19 December 2022

PLDT has sold a further 650 tower sites for PHP9.2 billion to a local company backed by Aboitiz InfraCapital and Partners Group.

The deal with Unity Digital Infrastructure will take the total raised from sales of more than 6,500 sites to three tower groups to PHP86 billion. Smart Communications will lease the towers from Unity Digital Infrastructure for ten years as the anchor tenant, with the buyer committed to building 220 new towers in the coming years. The towers are primarily located in Visayas and Mindanao in the south of the Philippines.

Andrew Kwok, MD and head of private infrastructure in Asia at Partners Group, stated the Philippines is a rising technology powerhouse and one of the region’s fast-growing digital economies, but is behind other Southeast Asian countries in terms of network connectivity. “We see Unity playing a key role in addressing this gap through building a tower portfolio,” he said.

PLDT stated closing of the transaction will be staggered subject to standard closing conditions, with the transfer of all sites expected to be completed in 2023.