4 foreign firms eyeing 3rd telco slot

Four foreign telecommunication companies had expressed interest in becoming the third telco player in the country, Malacañang said on Sunday.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said acting Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. informed him that a Taiwanese telco and the Japanese company KDDI were also interested in the local telecommunications market.

Andanar earlier said South Korea’s LG Plus and China Telecom were also interested.

“Secretary Rio (on Saturday) said the Japanese are also interested. This KDDI is also interested in the bidding and also a Taiwanese company whose identity Secretary Rio has yet to disclose,” Andanar said in a radio interview.

“But what is important really, besides the expected increase in internet speed, is the additional investment this will bring into our country,” he added.

Andanar said the third player was expected to invest P300 to P400 billion in the next five years.

“This is on top of the reinvestment of P50 billion by PLDT and Smart and the P48 billion to be invested by Globe,” he said.

Break duopoly

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier declared that he wanted the third telco player to start operating by the first quarter of 2018, to break up the duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom, which had been the dominant telcos.

To ensure the duopoly was finally broken, Andanar said the third telco player would be barred from selling its shares later to any existing telco.

“We will have that clause included in the agreement for the third player,” Andanar said.

He said the bids on who should be the third telco player should be opened by March after the announcement of the terms of reference next month.