PCC rejects plea for dialogue on telco deal

PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom renewed calls for a dialogue with the Philippine Competition Commission to resolve “uncertainties” hanging over their joint acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunication assets on May 30.

However, PCC Chair Arsenio Baliscan said in an interview this week there was no need for a dialogue at this stage since the P70-billion acquisition had neither been approved nor rejected by the commission.

“That has not been the process,” Balisacan said. “The point where we meet the parities is when we launch an investigation or inquiry. We are not at that stage.”

The PCC said last Friday that the telco deal would be subjected to a comprehensive review, which involved the “determination of the relevant market, whether there will be substantial changes to the market structure, and the potential impact of the transaction on public welfare.”

PLDT and Globe earlier argued that the deal was “deemed approved”, based on the transitory rules issued by the PCC. They complied by filing the necessary, truthful notices of the transaction to the PCC, the said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Globe said it had requested a meeting with the PCC “to shed light on certain issues that the Commission may have regarding the transaction.”

Globe and PLDT, in their letters to the PCC, noted that they were willing to cooperate with the commission and explain that the deal would benefit the broader public since it freed up the use of SMC’s radio frequency assets.

“This is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty hanging over the industry, which in turn, cause investors to take a cautious position,’ Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo said in the statement.

Castelo said that in acquiring San Miguel’s telco assets, there was no market share gain or loss for any of the parties involved because majority of the companies that belonged to SMC were not operating.

Castelo also said the return of a complete set of 2G, 3G, 4G, and potential 5G, including 20 MHz of the 700 Mhz spectrum to the government “fully supports open market competition, enabling the entry of another industry player in future.”

“Both telcos have repeatedly stressed that the transaction was above-board and did not violate any provisions of the country’s anti-competitive law,” Globe said in the statement.