Third telco player must have ‘very deep pocket’ —DICT

The third telecommunications company in the country would be chosen based on commitments regarding investment, subscription price, as well as internet speed and coverage, an official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology said.

“Third player must have a very deep pocket. Malalim talaga ang bulsa para hindi lang sila basta-bastang makuha ng Globe and Smart,” DICT Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said.

The department intends to reassign the frequencies earlier awarded to Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises (CURE), a unit of PLDT Inc., to the third telco player.

Rio noted that President Rodrigo Duterte did not take it well that PLDT chairman, president and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan has come up with innuendoes regarding compensation for the CURE frequencies it surrendered back to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in 2011.

Pangilinan supposedly quoted P3 billion as a good price for the third telco to compensate PLDT for the investment in CURE.

“We have to follow the orders of the President. Kailangan naming ipu-pullout ‘yung frequency na ‘yon. Ang mga course of action ng PLDT is habulin sa korte ... ” Rio said.

The frequency was surrendered by PLDT in exchange for the NTC approval of its merger with Digitel Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) in 2011.

The third telco may be first to use 5G technology in the country, according to DICT.

Duterte wants to have a third telco operational within the first quarter of 2018 to break the so-called duopoly of Globe Telecom and PLDT, but the department has said that potential bidders were asking for a mid-April deadline due to several holidays.

But the President rejected the DICT’s request for more time. —Tina Panganiban-Perez/VDS, GMA News