DICT pushes 3rd telco entry after Duterte target

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) pushed back the bidding exercise for a new telco player to May 2018 to ensure more participants in the selection process, its top official said.

The decision ran counter to President Duterte’s continued insistence for a third player to be up and running by March 2018— a timeline tagged by industry observers as unrealistic. Mr. Duterte wants a new telco player to enter the market and break the industry duopoly of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

DICT acting secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said the tentative bidding date was set for May 18 this year, heeding the request for a two-month extension sought by interested participants during the last public stakeholders meeting on Jan. 24.

“The request is coming from the contenders themselves,” Rio said in a text message Thursday. “If we force the end of March deadline, there might not be any bidders.”

Interested groups earlier said the March deadline was impossible to meet. They also cited holidays coming up, such as the Holy Week next month.

Private groups like Now Corp., Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Converge ICT Solutions Inc. and G. Telecoms were said to be among those keen on becoming the third telco player.

Rio earlier said telcos from China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea had also expressed interest. They would need to partner with local groups, however, given the 40-percent foreign ownership limit set by the 1987 Constitution.

The DICT estimated that a new player could spend anywhere from P150 billion to P300 billion in its first five years.