Bid documents for 3rd telco deal ready by October

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said groups interested in joining the government’s third telco initiative may purchase bid documents around the second week of October this year.

Eliseo Rio Jr., acting secretary of the DICT, said on Tuesday that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is finalizing the terms of reference, which will outline how a new major telco player will be selected.

At stake are a slew of 3G, 4G and potential 5G radio frequencies that a new player can use to provide services such as mobile voice calls and internet browsing to compete with incumbents PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

This initiative is a key component of the administration’s goal to improve the quality of telco services and lower costs for consumers.

“The NTC is cleaning up the final version and promised to have it published by Thursday or Friday this week,” Rio said on Tuesday.

He added that the bid documents, originally set for release on Sept. 26, will be out in 15 days or around the second week of October.

Once the bid documents are released, the DICT said it would give potential participants one to two months to craft their offers. Rio said they remained committed to meeting President Duterte’s deadline to name a third mobile player before the end of 2018.

The DICT had identified local firms such as Converge ICT Solutions, EasyCall Communications Philippines, NOW Corp., Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp., TierOne and Transpacific Broadband Group as among those keen on submitting offers.