Sotto to Globe, Smart: Take Duterte's threat seriously

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday warned the country's two leading telecommunication companies to take heed of President Rodrigo Duterte's warning to shape up or ship out.

"If I were the telcos I will take the threat of the President seriously," Sotto said in a message to reporters.

The Senate leader did not elaborate further but earlier, Duterte said he would coordinate with Congress to remove Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. from the industry should they fail to improve their services before December.

"Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ to Bethlehem. Better have that line cleared," Duterte said.

"The next two years will be spent improving the telecommunications of the country without you. I will talk to Congress and find a way how to do it," he added.

Another telco, Dito Telecommunity Corp., is set to enter the Philippine market. It is backed by businessman Dennis Uy who supported Duterte in the presidential race four years ago.

In response, Globe said it heeds Duterte's call to improve its services, stressing that it earmarked $1.2-billion for its capital spending this year, mainly to finance its network and capacity builds.

It added that the launch of its mobile fifth-generation 5G services in the country was in the pipeline.

Nonetheless, Globe said some challenges still remain such as securing the necessary permits to put up more cellular sites for better signals.

Smart, on the other hand, has not yet commented on the President's threat. — DVM, GMA News