iSON Group, the Indian-led conglomerate already building cell towers across the Philippines, plans to invest up to $375 million (around ₱23.6 billion) in the country over the next decade. The expanded commitment — spanning telecom towers, an agro-solar project, telehealth, and business process outsourcing (BPO) — was presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a September 12 meeting in New Delhi, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Context.ph reported the commitment on September 14, and further Philippine coverage followed on September 15.
Where the $375 million goes
| Sector | Amount | Approx. in pesos | What it covers |
|---|
| Telecom towers | $300 million | ≈ ₱18.8 billion | Expanding iSON Tower Ltd. Inc. to 3,000 towers, at 300–400 built per year |
| Agro-solar | $50 million | ≈ ₱3.1 billion | A New Clark City joint venture: 50 hectares of protected agriculture plus a 40-megawatt-peak solar facility |
| Digital healthcare | $15 million | ≈ ₱940 million | Growing iSON Health's teleconsultation and medical-opinion services |
| BPO | $10 million | ≈ ₱630 million | Expanding contact-center operations |
The meeting brought together the President, Philippine economic officials, and iSON executives led by founder and chairman Vivek Gupta.
Towers first: 450 built, 3,000 planned
The tower business is the anchor. iSON Tower has already spent $65 million (around ₱4.1 billion) putting up 450 towers across Metro Manila, Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. The new plan takes that to 3,000 sites over ten years — extra capacity for a country that still has real mobile-coverage gaps outside its cities.
The jobs math is concrete, if modest: the company currently employs more than 120 people directly, and the buildout is expected to add over 100 direct jobs plus a contractor workforce of roughly 1,000.
A bigger bet than August's $300 million
This is not iSON's first Philippine pledge, but it is the largest and most specific. In August, the group outlined a $300-million tower plan alongside early talks with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on agriculture and solar projects. The September announcement folds those threads into a single $375-million, sector-by-sector program — and adds the telehealth and BPO lines.
It also lands inside a broader wave of Indian corporate interest in the Philippines. Just days earlier, Indian firms pledged $75 million and 2,000 Philippine jobs during the same Marcos visit to India.
Incentives and what to watch
The DTI says qualifying iSON projects can access fiscal incentives under the CREATE MORE Act, the 2024 law that sweetened tax treatment for strategic investments, along with expedited "green lane" permit processing — the fast-track lane that lets strategic investments clear national and local permits on compressed timelines instead of the usual multi-agency queue. Trade Secretary Cristina Roque framed the expansion as proof that the government's investment reforms are landing with foreign firms, while Finance Secretary Frederick Go said the country is becoming a destination of choice for this kind of capital.
The usual caveat applies to decade-long pledges: this is a commitment presented in a meeting, not capital already spent, and the sector amounts can shift as projects clear permitting and partnerships firm up. The number to track is tower construction — at the promised 300–400 towers a year, progress (or the lack of it) will be visible within twelve months. For Filipino consumers, more towers ultimately mean better signal in underserved areas, whichever telco ends up leasing them.
