BIZ BUZZ: Chinese firms welcome to explore

Despite escalating tensions between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Chinese companies were more than welcome to participate in exploration activities in the country.

“They (Chinese firms) can apply, they can farm in into existing contracts [to explore, develop and produce indigenous energy sources],” said Energy Undersecretary Alessandro Sales in a virtual briefing last week.

Sales said, however, that at this time, there are no Chinese contractors involved in upstream exploration anywhere in the country, no thanks to the tensions that further escalated this year.

These tensions have also prevented Pangilinan-led PXP Energy Corp. from resuming exploration activities in its service areas.

To recall, PXP has service contracts to harness oil and gas sources in disputed waters, but Service Contract No. 72 (Recto Bank) and SC 75 were put under force in April 2022, due to the maritime dispute.

SC 72 (Recto Bank) is in the West Philippine Sea, west of Palawan Island and southwest of the Malampaya gas field. On the other hand, SC 75 is within the Northwest Palawan basin.

PXP Energy had been hoping to resume exploration and continues to closely coordinate with the government on any possible arrangement to pursue offshore activities in both service contracts.

With the welcoming attitude of the DOE, there is always the possibility that Chinese companies will become friends in exploration, rather than foes. — Jordeene B. Lagare

Globe, Nokia team up for broadband service

Globe Telecom Inc. will be replacing its existing legacy solution with Nokia’s broadband network gateway (BNG) technology as the Ayala-led company seeks to modernize its network infrastructure.

The solution will be deployed in key areas across the country. It will support the residential airline postpaid and prepaid broadband services.

“We are committed to continuously improving our network infrastructure to provide the best possible broadband experience to our subscribers,” said Joel Agustin, Globe senior vice president for network planning and engineering.

Kent Wong, vice president and head of intellectual property business at Nokia Asia Pacific, said its technology would help in building a “scalable, flexible and energy-efficient broadband network.”

Globe built 116 new cell sites and upgraded 812 mobile sites to LTE in the first quarter.

It also deployed 27 new 5G sites, increasing coverage to 98.35 percent of the National Capital Region and 92.86 percent of key cities in VIsayas and Mindanao. — Tyrone Jasper C. Piad