CASE C41 · PH · 2023
PhilTower (Philippines): drone surveys and digital twins for 1,350 cell sites acquired from Globe
Philippine tower company PhilTower is surveying the 1,350 sites it bought from Globe Telecom by drone and turning them into 3D digital twins. It says this cuts truck rolls and audit time but gives no figures. The work is mainly asset auditing rather than structural defect inspection.
| Owner | PhilTower Consortium Inc. |
| Provider | QNSI (drone field surveys); SiteSee (digital-twin platform, Australia) |
| Location | Philippines (nationwide portfolio) |
| Aircraft | Not stated |
| Sensors | RGB photogrammetry (3D models), AI processing of imagery |
Before
Traditional engineering inspections with tower climbs and manual asset registers, requiring many truck rolls.
With drones
QNSI flies drone surveys of the 1,350 acquired sites; SiteSee builds 3D models and uses AI to create asset registers for loading analysis and co-location.
Outcomes
| Metric | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| portfolio | 1,350 cell sites in scope (number already digitised not stated) | Reported |
| audit time / truck rolls | fewer truck rolls and shorter audits (no figures) | Company claim |
| maintenance cost | savings anticipated in future preventive maintenance | Target |
Caveats & limits
- Statements by the companies involved; no cost, accuracy or progress figures.
- This is an asset audit / digitisation programme rather than defect-focused structural inspection.
- The CEO acknowledged heavy logistics and field-operations demands; the timeline in the article is inconsistent (described both as started in December and as future work).
Sources
- Over 1,000 cell towers in the Philippines to be integrated with AI algorithms, dronesInteraksyon (Philstar) Full text read
Sources checked: 2026-10-22