Philippines: Axiata's tower subsidiary Edotco completes the acquisition of PLDT towers

Axiata Group is done with the transfer of the remaining towers from PLDT's subsidiaries to its Philippine subsidiary. Thus, the Malaysian company has finalized an agreement to acquire and lease back 2,710 sites. The company declared that the final transfer of the six sites under its agreement with PLDT last year—85 sites from Smart Communications and Digital Mobile Philippines—was the transfer of those sites.

Axiata's tower division, Edotco, is one of the world's largest TowerCos, with over 58,000 telecom towers. Most of the towers encompassed by the agreement are located in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It's not the first time PLDT has concluded a tower transaction; last year, the company agreed to sell over 6,000 towers to Edotco and EdgePoint Infrastructure for over $950 million.

In March, PLDT reached an agreement with Frontier Tower Associates Philippines for the sale and leaseback of just over a thousand telecommunications towers, netting $220 million in the process. Additionally, the operator had contemplated selling its data center unit but has since abandoned this plan.