DICT: No 2G frequencies available for 3rd telco player

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Tuesday said 2G frequencies would not be available to the third telecommunications player once it enters the industry.

"The 2G frequencies are already controlled by Globe and Smart, we have no more... the government has no more 2G frequencies to give," said DICT officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio during the hearing led by the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

"There are no longer 2G frequencies that can be given to the third player," Rio added.

Rio, however, stressed that the 2G frequency is already "getting outdated."

"In fact in Singapore, last April of 2017, they already stopped the 2G operations so all cellphones there are 3G. If you bring 2G in Singapore now, it will not work," Rio said.

"The direction of our industry is going to that," he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte wants a third telecommunications player in the country as he is dissatisfied with the services of current firms and that he aims to break the longstanding "duopoly" in the industry. — BM, GMA News