Communications Towers and Upgrading of Base Stations

In 2020, 243 communications towers for the provisioning of public cellular services were deployed nationwide under various initiatives which were fully funded by the USP Fund and awarded based on Regulation 5 and Regulation 36A, respectively, of the Communications and Multimedia (Universal Service Provision) Regulations 2002, which are under the stewardship of the Commission.

Meanwhile, 461 base stations at the existing towers were upgraded for the provisioning of 3G and 4G services by way of projects approved under the provisions for Major Contributors, under Regulation 36A of the Communications and Multimedia (Universal Service Provision) Regulations 2002.

The deployment of these new towers will address the issues of inadequate coverage and poor quality of public cellular services, especially in rural, remote and sparsely populated areas. Additionally, it will encourage the use of smart devices as well as online applications that require high capacity and high-speed broadband.