Mislatel’s rollout delayed by absence of a franchise

Mislatel Consortium’s plan to launch telecommunications services nationwide is delayed as the two chambers of Congress must first reconcile the provisions in their respective versions of the company’s franchise, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Monday.

Under its original timetable, the consortium assumed it would have all regulatory requirements by March 2019 in order to compete with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. as the third telco.

In a press conference in Quezon City on Monday, DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio said the consortium has yet to receive the ownership transfer of the franchise given to its partner Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. Inc. (Mislatel Inc.).

“They could not start, because basically we could not give them the frequencies and their [Certificate of Technical Capability], ‘yung kanilang permit to operate as a telco, until we get the approval ng bicam,” Rio told reporters.

“So they cannot operate as a telco as of now, and we cannot really give them those frequencies,” he added.

Mislatel Consortium was officially declared as the “New Major Player” by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) last November 19.

Consortium members Udenna Corp., its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., and state-owned China Telecommunications Corp. earlier agreed to increase their shareholdings in Mislatel Inc. to acquire majority and controlling interest in the company.

Republic Act 8627 granted Mislatel Inc. the franchise to maintain and operate a wireless telecommunications system in the country, but the controlling interest in the company may not be transferred to any person, company, or entity without prior approval of Congress.

The House of Representatives approved the transfer of controlling interest in Mislatel Inc. to the consortium on Dec. 11, 2018, while the Senate counterpart was approved on Feb. 6, 2019.

“Actually, nasabi naman namin na we could not move until we get a definite answer from Congress. Wala pa, hindi pa reconciled,” Rio noted.

There must be a bicameral version as the approved measures in the House of Representatives and the Senate contained different wordings, he said.

“Because ‘yung resolution ng [House of Representatives] has slightly different wordings than the resolution of Senate, so ginagawa ng Congress is to reconcile all of this, and ‘yun ang hinihintay namin,” he said.

“And as of the calendar of Congress, the [earliest] we can get this would be around after the election na—May or June,” Rio added.

Congress no longer has time to come up with a bicameral-approved version of the Mislatel franchise, in view of the midterm elections on May 13, 2019.

“Unless, of course, Congress can come up with a special session. But I don’t think they will do that,” Rio said.

In its first year of operations, Mislatel has committed a nationwide coverage of 84.01 percent, a minimum speed of 27 megabits per second (Mbps), and capital and operating expenditures of P150 billion.

Mislatel was earlier given 90 days or until February 17, 2019, to complete its post-qualification requirements, but this missed in the absence of a congressional franchise.

Rio clarified, however, that Congress agreed to disregard the deadline for now as matters that must be addressed were beyond the consortium’s control. —VDS, GMA News