The proposal of dominant telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to acquire the No. 3 player Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) from the Gokongwei family is still in the cards, PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.
“We are just waiting for word from the government. The provisions of the deal are such that extensions could be made if the only condition pending is the approval of the government,” Pangilinan told reporters on Monday.
“Neither the Gokongwei [family] nor ourselves terminated the agreement,” he said.
Pangilinan added that PLDT is open to reviewing any compromise being sought by the government, when asked to respond to media reports suggesting that Malacañang could allow the deal to push through in exchange for certain concessions that may involve the reallocation of 3G frequencies.
“If the government approves the transaction subject to certain conditions, we have to see what those conditions are and bring them up with our board. We have to check with the Gokongwei [group] as well,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan also reiterated on that PLDT would survive without the deal.
As part of the deal, Digitel’s parent firm JG Summit Holdings Inc. will end up owning about a tenth of PLDT.
Malacañang recently stepped into the picture saying it would need to study the implications of the transaction, which would effectively give PLDT 70 percent of the Philippine mobile-phone market post-acquisition.
The deal has been strongly opposed by the Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc., the remaining competitor, which would end up with a 30-percent market share.
PLDT and Digitel earlier filed an application for the National Telecommunications Commission to allow the Pangilinan-led telco to acquire a majority stake in Digitel, as well as debt valuing the deal at P74 billion.
The takeover plan was prompted by price wars started by Digitel, when it introduced in 2004 unlimited call and text offerings that eroded margins of both PLDT and Globe.
PLDT shares declined 1.26 percent to P2,354 each on Monday, while Digitel added 1.39 percent to P1.46 per share. Globe slid 0.67 percent to P888.50 each.
