Duterte calls on China to operate telco in Phl

President Rodrigo Duterte has offered China the opportunity to enter the Philippine telecommunications industry.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a briefing on Monday that Duterte offered China to open a third telecommunications company in the country during his bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last week.

"During the bilateral talks between President Duterte and the Chinese Premier, President Duterte offered to the People’s Republic of China the privilege to operate the third telecom’s carrier in the country," he said.

Roque said that the offer was made to break the telecom's duopoly in the country.

"I repeat, the announcement is that duopoly, that telecom’s duopoly is about to end with the entry of the Facebook subsidiary as well as the offer by the President of the People’s Republic of China to operate the third telecom’s carrier," he said.

"The Philippine President is so serious about this that he has instructed that all applications be filed and acted upon directly by the Office of the Executive Secretary," he added.

Roque also said that China's entry into the Philippines' telecom industry would comply with the Constitution.

SALALIMA FACTOR

Roque said that breaking the telecoms duopoly in the country should have been made sooner, but former Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Rodolfo Salalima did not act right away.

He said the Philippine government's signing with a Facebook affiliate for the project “Luzon Bypass” of the Pacific Light Cable Network could have been made earlier.

Roque said the project could have been signed as early as December 2016.

"It was not signed by the former Secretary of the DICT. And this was one of the areas pinpointed by Cabinet investigators as an area of conflict of interest for the former Secretary of DICT," he said.

"It was further reported by the special investigating committee that the former DICT Secretary likewise may have prevented the earlier breakup of the duopoly by delaying the use of satellites as viable option," he added.

With these new developments, Roque said that "the consumers can look forward now to better telecommunications, not just in terms of cellular technology but also in terms of internet speed as well as access."

The biggest telecommunications companies in the country are Globe Telecom Inc. and PLDT Inc.