DICT confident new telco player will be named on Nov. 7

Malacañang is optimistic a third telecommunications player will be named next month, or else President Duterte will take over the government search.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the selection process being handled by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is ongoing.

"It is currently being processed. The President, however, said during my tête-à-tête conversation with him, 'I'll take over if nothing happens by November,’” Panelo said in a radio interview.

Asked if government can meet its November deadline, Panelo said: "Hopefully, hopefully."

Duterte has expressed dismay over the delay in the selection process and said if he had his way, he would ask interested companies to submit their proposals to his office so he could review them. He promised to choose the company with the "best track record."

The President pushed for the entry of a third telco carrier in the country in the early part of the year to break the duopoly of PLDT-Smart Communications and Globe Telecoms and improve telco services. He first made the offer to China to join the telco industry but other foreign companies have later shown interest in the venture.

No security breach DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr.appeared at a Senate hearing on Monday and declared the government was on track in its search for a new telco player. He said barring any decision from the court, a provisional new major player might be announced by November 7.

Eight companies, including three foreign telco operators, have reportedly expressed interest in becoming a new major player.

Rio assured that the entry of a third telco player would not compromise national security, especially if it is a foreign entity.

"We are very, very concerned on the national security, our cybersecurity because our country is experiencing so many cyber-attacks," Rio told the Senate panel.

He recalled DICT asking Globe Telecom for assurance when it chose a Chinese network company as one of its contractors amid the territorial dispute on the West Philippine Sea two years ago.

"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 narrated.

Rio said they would apply a similar measure on the third telco. (With a report from Vanne Elaine P. Terrazola)