TELCOS ABROAD STILL EYEING PH, SAYS DICT
A year after San Miguel Corp. and Australia’s Telstra abandoned an attempt to enter the Philippine telecommunications sector, at least 5 foreign players remain interested in the Philippine market. Are they ready to adjust to ownership limits and the massi
After Telstra’s failed attempt to become a third player in the country’s telecommunications industry, some foreign companies have signified their interest to expand their services here.
The information came from Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) 7 Assistant Regional Director Antonio Edward Padre, in an interview on the sidelines of the Cebu Digital Transformation Summit on Friday.
“During the Philippine Telecom Summit in March, NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) mentioned there are at least five companies that have signified their intention to enter their market. Most of them are foreign,” Padre said.
These companies, whose names were kept private for now, have reached out to NTC to inquire if there are available frequencies for another telecommunications player in the country. Padre said the NTC has assured there are enough frequencies for a third player.
One hurdle that the new foreign entrants will face is the constitutional provision that caps foreign ownership of businesses in the Philippines at 40 percent. In addition, the capital required to build telco infrastructure in an archipelago like the Philippines would be extensive.
The DICT, Padre said, supports having more players in the telecommunications industry as this would likely lead to better service as well as cheaper rates.
The global study “State of the Internet” released by US-based global content delivery network company Akamai last May 31 showed that the Philippines had the lowest average connection speed among surveyed Asia-Pacific countries at 4.5 megabits per second (Mbps).
South Korea topped the global rankings with average speeds of 26.1 Mbps.
In another development, Padre said the DICT is monitoring the developments on PLDT and Globe’s acquisition of the San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) telecommunications assets. Both companies proceeded with the last tranche of payment of P13 billion to SMC last month, completing the deal for a total of P69.1 billion.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but these test results show that our network improvement program is making progress. They are a testament to Smart’s commitment to continuously contribute to improving overall speeds in the country… We are asking for people’s patience and understanding as we are upgrading our network facilities Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT and Smart SVP for network planning and engineering