Mislatel expected to start after polls

Manila -- The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it expects Mislatel Consortium to commence operations after the midterm elections, as both the House of Representatives and Senate still need to reconcile provisions of their respective versions of the resolution approving its franchise.

DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said the department must wait for Congress to officially approve Mislatel’s franchise before it can give out the necessary radio frequencies, and before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) can issue it a license to operate as a telco.

“We are waiting for the approval of bicam on the resolution of transfer of Mislatel’s shares. The resolution of Congress has slightly different wordings than the resolution of the Senate. So Congress has to reconcile all of this. That is what we are waiting,” said Rio in a press briefing Monday as the 90-day post qualification phase Mislatel needs to undergo for it to be issued its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) lapsed on February 17.

“The calendar of the Congress says that the earlier we can get this would be after the elections -- May and June before Congress really dissolves itself,” he added.

Mislatel was awarded the third telco slot by the NTC following a bidding conducted in November last year.