Competition agency to probe telcos

Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s stern warning for the two dominant telecommunication companies to shape up has emboldened the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) as it vowed to look into possible uncompetitive business practices in the provision of Internet services.

“Since the incoming president is already giving that signal that he wants a competitive telco sector, that will make our job easier,” PCC Chair Arsenio M. Balisacan said on the sidelines of the public consultation on the implementing guidelines of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act.

Duterte said Monday that he would open the country to foreign telco players that could provide better service if the existing firms would not do something to improve Internet connection and access.

“It’s high time that this issue be addressed because it’s now becoming a big part of the economy. The BPO [business process outsourcing] sector is very dependent on a very efficient telco industry,” Balisacan noted.

The PCC chief lamented that he himself suffered from poor Internet service despite high costs shelled out by consumers. “The very poor quality, I experience that daily in my area of residence. I get very bad service. I upgraded to a higher [priced] subscription, I thought I’d get a better service—I did not,” Balisacan said.

In the drafting of a national competition policy to be led by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the PCC, Balisacan noted that it would help that the incoming President, who will also head the Neda Board, was pushing for more competitive services sectors, including telecommunications.

While the scoping study being conducted by the PCC with regards the priority sectors to be investigated by the body for unfair competition has been delayed, Balisacan said Duterte’s pronouncements with regards his administration’s competition policy would boost the implementation of RA 10667, described as the country’s first foray into antitrust regulation.

It would help that government agencies, including the President himself, could lodge a case or complaint to the PCC, Balisacan said. “If the President said there is a problem in the telco sector, we should be looking into that.”

Moving forward, the PCC would investigate uncompetitive sectors, possibly including telecommunications. “We have to understand where the lack of competitiveness or the inefficiency is coming from. If it’s coming from the practices of industry players then we have to address that frontally—we can impose administrative fines. If it’s a cartel issue, there’s also a criminal aspect to that and they could be prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” Balisacan said.

“But if the inefficiency issue is coming from regulators themselves, policies or issuances of government agencies, the PCC will have to work more closely with those agencies to address [the pending issues] without compromising the overall efficiency of the economy,” he added.