Globe Telecom Inc. asked property developers to remove lease fees on in-building telecom facilities, giving connectivity services equal footing with basic utilities such like water and electricity.
“When a developer starts building, they practically beg for power and water. Meanwhile, for us, we want to connect them but they say ‘pay first’. They actually put all the power facilities in the building to allow their tenants to connect. They don’t charge the water company for every faucet. Yet they want to charge us for every antenna we need to install,” Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said.
Cu said one developer wanted to charge a 300-percent increase in lease rates for telecom facilities just as the pandemic was easing, apparently to cut losses.
Globe said it has been working with building owners and developers to remove lease fees for in-building solutions (IBS) and recently scored a win with a top hotel in Pasay City.
Following successful negotiations, the hotel agreed to remove the charges for IBS and retained only its fees for outdoor connectivity facilities, cutting lease charges by 96.18 percent.
Cu commended building owners and developers who understand the importance of connectivity and include necessary facilities right from the planning stage of developments.
“It’s very refreshing to see visionaries like Vic [Consunji], who understands how important connectivity is and makes it available from the get-go. Why wait for people to apply for connectivity once they move in if they’re gonna do it anyway?” he said.
Consunji said having built-in connectivity in his developments just makes sense. “The irony here is that we want to raise awareness about connectivity so that we can take it for granted. Everything that is important, we take it for granted. We don’t worry about how we get water, power, how roads are built. Everything that is important, we actually want to take for granted. We want to raise awareness to a point that we can forget about it,” said Consuji, president and chief executive of Victor Consunji Development Corp.