3rd telco player must not be a threat to national security —DICT's Rio

The winning telecommunications company which will be chosen as the third telco player must ensure that it will not be a threat to the country's national security.

Information and Communication Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. made the remark on Monday during the Senate Committee on Public Services hearing on the selection of the third telco player.

"In the terms of reference itself, there is a provision that whoever will win must assure the government of the Philippines that it will not be a national security threat," Eliseo told members of the Senate panel.

Senate Committee on Public Services holds hearing on the Third Telco in the country. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/F7NfR6HnfE

— Erwin Colcol (@erwincolcol) October 22, 2018

During the hearing, Senate panel chair Grace Poe expressed concern about national security that may be breached once the third telco player comes in.

But Rio assured Poe that the DICT is likewise very concerned about national security.

Rio recalled that in a past experience, telecommunications giant Globe Telecom contracted an Israeli firm to perform a cybersecurity audit during a cyber attack.

"Two years ago, we had a West Philippine Sea situation. We alerted the National Security Adviser to call Globe and ask them on their assurance that the Huawei network will not be used against national security. Globe was able to come up with an answer. They came up with a cybersecurity audit that they will do themselves. In fact, they contracted an Israeli firm to do this for them, and the report of this cybersecurity audit, the government will be given a copy," he said.

"This is what we will do on whoever wins—we will have cybersecurity because we are now experiencing so many cyberattacks," Rio said.

Aside from this provision on national security, telecommunications companies vying to be the third telco player must have a congressional franchise or one that covers a bidding agreement with committed local or foreign investors.

They must also have a paid-up capital of at least P10 billion or, if covered by a bidding agreement, the aggregate paid capital of its members should be at least P10 billion.

The minimum or maximum average broadband speed of the bidding companies should likewise be 5 megabytes per second to 55 megabytes per second.

So far, five local companies and at least seven foreign ones are interested in filling the country’s need for a third telco provider.

These include PT&T, Now, Converge, Transpacific-Broadband, and TiereOne for the local firms.

Meanwhile, foreign companies vying for the slot include China Telecom, KT Corp., LG U+, KDDI Corp., Viettel, Vietnam Telecom, Telenor, and AT&T. —KG, GMA News