Bayan Telecommunications settles P1.4B debts

BAYAN Telecommunications Inc. said it has settled more than a billion pesos of debts last year.

In a statement, the Lopez- led telecom company said it paid a total of P1.35 billion to its creditors last year.

Of the total payment made during the period, P556million represented interest while P791 million was for the principal amount. For

December alone, Bayan paid a total P536 million in interest and principal payments.

This brings to a total of P7.27 bil- lion worth of debts paid since the company underwent rehabilitation in July 2004.

Among Bayan’s creditors are two state-owned lenders, Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, and United Coconut Planters Bank.

Bayan stopped making interest payments in 2001 owing to recurring losses, forcing the telco to seek rehabilitation.

Earlier, the Lopez- led telecom firm said it would focus on the Internet broadband business fol- lowing the sale of landline assets.

Bayan had secured an approval from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the sale and transfer of its wireless CDMA business to Multi-media Telephony Inc. (MTI).

Under the terms of the sale, selected assets related to Bayan’s wireless CDMA business will be transferred to MTI, a duly enfranchised wireless voice and broadband company, as part of its plan to expand its wireless voice and data service offering.

its wireless

The company said that the sale of its wireless code division multiple access (CDMA) business would impact positively on the company’s financial standing and allow it to focus its resources on sustaining the growth of its wired business, particularly digital subscriber lines (DSL), corporate data and carrier data.

It added that the sale also reflects the strategic decision of Bayan to exit the CDMA business while readying itself for sustainable growth in other technologies.