DICT: 3rd telco may be picked by October

After encountering numerous delays, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) revealed that the country’s third telecommunications player may be known by October this year.

DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio said the legal process in selecting the third telecommunications player is underway.

In an interview with Communications Secretary Martin Andanar over Radyo Pilipinas, Rio said that the first public hearing will also be held soon.

“The legal process for the memorandum circular that will define the terms of preference in selecting the third telco started last August 8,” he said in Filipino.

“The first public hearing which is a legislative process which we cannot just breeze through will be on Wednesday, August 23,” he added.

Rio explained that the legal process will take around 55 days or will finish by the end of September. They will then give contenders a month to come up with their proposals.

In November last year, President Duterte personally offered the third slot to the Chinese government during his bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Malacañang.

A month later, Malacañang announced that China has nominated state-run China Telecom to be the third telecommunications player in the Philippines.

Later on, it was reported that South Korean multinational conglomerate LG Corporation is interested to be the country’s third telecommunications service provider.

Aside from LG, Rio also revealed that Japan’s second biggest telecommunications company KDDI Corporation expressed eagerness to enter the telecoms playing field.

In March, President Duterte also revealed that India is interested in becoming the new telecommunications player in the country.