Duterte to telcos: Improve services, or else . . .

President- elect Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he would give telecommunications companies a chance to improve their services before he makes good on his plan to open the industry to foreign players.

While admitting that he does not know much about the industry, Duterte stressed consumers deserve better service from the telecommunications firms.

“It is one facet of our life. I am not quite satisfied because of connectivity problem,” the next Philippine leader said.

“I was just saying if you can’t improve your services, I would agree to the (entry) of foreign players,” he added.

Duterte was asked to react to the sale of the telco assets of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) to rivals Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom Inc.

PLDT and Globe bought 50 percent each of the equity interest of SMC’s telecommunication business, which is held by Vega Telecom Inc., for P69.1 billion. PLDT and Globe officials said the transaction would lead to better mobile Internet services.

Duterte, however, was cautious with regard to the entry of too many players in the industry.

“If you allow competition it is always healthy but too much competition will also kill the industry,” he said.

Energy, too

Earlier, Duterte asked energy firms to “shape up” and find ways to lower costs or he would allow foreign companies to enter the industry.

“I told you before, shape up because if you don’t the public will suffer. If (the problems) remain unaddressed, I will let everyone (foreign companies) enter the industry,” he said in an earlier press conference. Duterte said he is ready to support amendments to the Constitution to ease restrictions on foreign ownership of industries.