MOBILE telecommunications provider Globe Telecom Inc. is aiming to build a “better and stronger” company out of Bayan Telecommunications Inc., with the latter likely keeping its brand for the next few years until the demand for a rebranding arises.
Globe President Ernest L. Cu said his company does not have any plan of building a separate mobile brand for Bayan, as such prospect is “too expensive.”
“What we will do for Bayan is to take whatever assets we’ve gotten from them in terms of the network. We’re going to take their customers and provide additional services because those customers have been starved of those services and we will take advantage of that, and build a better and a stronger company,” he said.
For now, he noted, the company will keep the Bayan brand, until a need sprouts out to rebrand.
Globe acquired 98.57 percent of shareholding in the then Lopez-owned company through a debt-to-equity transaction. This allowed the former cash-strapped company to “exit rehabilitation and enhance its current infrastructure and network; build more cell sites and related facilities; as well as enrich more people’s lives through the wonders of telecommunication.”
With the acquisition, Globe now holds the rights to the frequencies held by Bayan.
Even with its closure, the transaction still faces a legal tussle. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its subsidiaries have argued that such acquisition is unlawful, given that transaction paved the way for the transfer of frequencies without public auction.
The telecommunications titan accused the regulator of tailor-fitting the law to favor its rival, as the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) deferred to resolve the issues that PLDT raised with regard to competition and capitalization requirements.
The agency, in approving the debt-to-equity transaction between Globe and Bayan, ruled that issues on competition, capitalization and compliance, with the requirements of the Public Telecommunications Policy Act, are not within the jurisdiction of the NTC, but is within the competence of the Rehabilitation Court.
However, PLDT said such issues are not for the court to resolve. Citing Republic Act 7925, the Manuel V. Pangilinan-led company said the regulator should have been the body to resolve these matters to “ensure fair and competitive conduct of telecommunications entities such as Bayan.”
“Clearly, the honorable commission contradicted itself and ruled contrary to law with respect to the alleged effects of Bayan’s rehabilitation proceeding to the joint application. On this score alone, the assailed decision should be revisited and reconsidered lest this honorable commission be misinterpreted as tailor-fitting to favor one party over the other,” PLDT said.