SBA Communications confirmed in its Q4 results that it sold its 169 telecom towers in the Philippines on January 10, 2025. TowerXchange understands that the Bersama Digital Infrastructure-backed towerco Alliance Towers Corporation has acquired the 169 sites.
Alliance Towers Corporation is a joint venture between local investment company Opti-Teknology Philippines, Inc. and Bersama Digital Infrastructure. Bersama Digital Infrastructure is the investor behind Tower Bersama in Indonesia and is backed by international investors Macquarie Asset Management, Provident and Saratoga.
The transaction is the first tower acquisition made by the group outside Indonesia, but the group has been eying international expansion since 2022 as covered in TowerXchange. In Indonesia the group owns data centres in addition to a portfolio of 23,211 telecom towers under Tower Bersama.
For the Philippines, this deal is the third tower consolidation announcement since September last year, following the closing of the merger between MIDC and PhilTower, and the announcement of Frontier Tower Associates plans to acquire CREI’s business. The Philippines is home to more than 20 towercos in a crowded marketplace which is now seeing consolidation.
Prior to the acquisition the company has a limited portfolio of sites but had secured tower orders from all three major mobile network operators in the Philippines and owns and operates towers in Visayas and Mindanao. TowerXchange tracks 37,236 telecom towers in the Philippines, of which 16,903 are owned by towercos.
In recent years SBA Communications has increased its due diligence on tower deals and asset allocation, and the sale of its Philippines assets reflects this more balanced approach. This means the international giant will sit out the next phase of consolidation in the Philippines.
This is not the only smaller market from which the towerco is pulling back. On February 20, 2025, SBA Communications entered into an agreement to sell its Colombian business too, where it owns 206 sites. That transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and other approvals.
Alliance Tower Corporation’s CEO Sherwin Hing has been approached for comment.
