DOF to set parameters right on 3rd telco selection

SECRETARY Carlos Dominguez III said it is the priority of the Department of Finance (DOF) to have a selection process that will ensure that the third telecommunications player to be chosen can effectively compete in the telco market.

Dominguez said he “find(s) the proposed process fails to set up parameters that will ensure that the third telco has the capability, both financial and technical, to compete in the long term.”

The proposed process used “Committed Level of Service” as the main criteria in the selection of the third player.

“I’ve expressed my concerns on the proposed process as I find the pre-qualification criteria as being weak, and I think that scoring should not be based on ‘commitments.’ You know, the beauty contest in the past resulted to frequency hoarding and those companies failed to improve service. They just made money by flipping assets government owns. I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.

When asked as to the next steps, Dominguez said on the DOF’s end, they are currently evaluating what prequalification criteria, like financial and previous telco experience, can be applied to improve the selection of the third player.

Additionally, he said that “Government should not forget what the task at hand is. The mandate of the President was not only to bring in a third telco player, but more importantly, to ensure that its entry will result to rendering of better services to the consumers at the lowest possible cost.”

As to when the criteria will be approved, he said, “We hope to be done with this task by Friday next week.”