PH, China firms to launch nationwide wi-fi, digital TV services

The group of businessman Salvador B. Zamora II is partnering with a Chinese group to launch Wi-Fi, digital television and satellite services across the country.

Zamora, who chairs Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T), joined President Duterte’s visit to Beijing, China, last week where his company, Tranzen Group Inc., sealed a memorandum of understanding with Citic Network Co. Ltd.

“The MOU includes construction of infrastructure for nationwide Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in various capital cities and towns throughout the Philippines,” a statement from the group showed.

PT&T will be in charge of implementing the project, the statement added.

“The synergy between Tranzen and PT&T aims to change the game of the digital infrastructure in the Philippines,” Zamora said.

He added that PT&T owns and operates a 100-percent fiber internet network in Region IV-A that extends all the way to Metro Manila, Batangas and all the way to Pampanga.

Prior to the government-mandated service area scheme, PT&T said it operated nationwide for more than 50 years.

Citic, meanwhile, is known in China as a leader in system integration and IT services. It also develops application software.

“PT&T’s plans for the country bodes well with the agreements our chair signed during the Belt and Road Initiatives,” James Velasquez, PT&T president and CEO, said in the same statement.

“PT&T is fully on board with the government’s initiative to modernize the country’s ICT landscape and we are participating in the Public Wi-Fi Program. We also plan to develop capabilities in Smart Cities and Emergency Response in line with the MOU,” he added.

PT&T, among the firms that participated in the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s third telco initiative last year, holds a 25-year franchise that allows the company to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems in the country.

PT&T was disqualified for failing to the meet the requirement of having nationwide operations. It filed a case last year before the Supreme Court in a bid to overturn its disqualification.

The Mislatel Consortium, backed by state-owned China Telecom and companies led by businessman Dennis A. Uy, was named the third telco last November. The program, however, is delayed as issues over its telco franchise remain hanging in Congress.