Udenna, TierOne-Chavit Singson group buy bid documents for third telco

Several companies on Monday flocked to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) headquarters in an expression of their intent to operate as the New Major Player (NMP) in the telecom industry, by securing bid documents for the third selection process.

One of the companies is Udenna Corp., a holding company led by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy.

“Yes, we confirm that,” Udenna spokesperson Adel Tamano said in a text message, when asked if they bought the bid documents earlier on Monday.

“On the Philippine Government’s plan for a New Major Player, Udenna Corporation is supportive of this initiative to improve telecommunications services in the country by establishing a viable NMP,” Tamano noted.

Another company, Davao-based internet service provider TierOne Communications International Inc., confirmed its interest to operate as the third telco player.

In a statement, TierOne said it teamed up with the LCS (Luis Chavit Singson) Group of Companies.

“The LCS Group of Companies and the TierOne Consortium today bought documents to participate in the bid to be the New Major Player in the Philippine Telecommunications Industry,” the statement read.

“We are here, particularly for the underserved and unserved Filipinos, and—because of this—we have assembled a Consortium of partners and providers to roll out a top-notch telco network nationwide, from the North where Gov. Singson is from to the South where I live, in the quickest possible time, just as President Duterte wanted,” said TierOne Chairman Jonathan Bentley-Stevens.

Other companies reported to have been interested in filling the third telco slot include Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp., NOW Corp., Transpacific Broadband Group International Inc., and EasyCall Communications Philippines Inc..

Foreign firms China Telecom, KT Corp., LG Uplus Corp., Viettel Telecom, and Telenor Group were also reported to have been interested.

Eastern Telecom Philippines Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. both earlier said they are not keen on joining the third telco bid.

Monday, October 8, is the first day when telcos can buy the bid documents at P1 million each since the final memorandum circular of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has been published on September 21.

The bid documents are available at the NTC until November 7, the deadline for interested bidders to apply for the third telco slot.

Under the selection process, bidders are required to cover at least 10 percent of the national population in the first year of operations.

The rules follow the “highest committed level of service” (HCLOS), which was chosen over the Department of Finance-backed proposal to auction off unassigned frequencies.

The DICT earlier said it was bent on naming the third telco player by December this year, amid criticisms that the timeline is too tight for the bidders.

In September, President Rodrigo Duterte gave a December deadline for the government to name the third telco—or else he would decide on which company to pick as the NMP.

“I will ... maybe early November pag wala pa, I’ll take over. Ilagay ko ‘yan sa Office of the President and I will invite all dito—negosyante—and I will decide in front of them kung sino,” the President said. —VDS, GMA News