THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) urged aggrieved residents to come forward and report if their property developers are offering exclusive Internet deals, preventing them from subscribing to other service providers.
In a news statement on Thursday, the competition watchdog reminded the public that exclusive dealings with Internet service providers (ISPs) by property developers are considered an anti-competitive practice.
“As remote work, distance learning, and e-commerce have become part of the new normal, PCC understands the value of consumer choice for fast, stable, and affordable internet connection,” PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan said.
“The lack of competition in this space forced by exclusivity dealings by property developers is an issue that we are determined to solve. We encourage the public to continue reporting to us similar cases and for developers to open their doors to different ISPs,” he added.
Last month, the PCC said it was finalizing a draft memorandum circular preventing property developers from limiting access to a single or in-house ISPs to their residents.
PCC Commissioner Johannes R. Bernabe said they hoped to jointly issue the circular with other regulatory agencies engaged in property development and information and communication technologies.
“So, this memorandum circular will provide for the kind of competitive selection process like mechanism that would ensure that there are no exclusivity arrangements and if there are in extraordinary circumstances, that this would not be down to the disadvantage of consumers,” he said in an earlier virtual event.
PCC said it has issued enforcement advisory letters (EALs) to developers of condominiums and subdivisions who were the subject of complaints by the residents and tenants regarding the exclusive Internet deals. EALs, the competition authority said, serve as a “tool to advise companies to correct competition concerns immediately.”
So far, eight developers have voluntarily complied with the advisory: DMCI Homes, Urban Deca Homes, Vista Residences Inc., Victoria Towers by New San Jose Builders Inc., Amaia Land Corp., CHMI Land Inc., Avida Land Corp. and Kirkwood Development Corp.
The PCC established a task force in March 2021 dedicated to handling concerns about exclusive Internet deals.
It has received over 104 complaints with most of them having led to further investigation, cases or issuance of EALs.
The competition watchdog said more complainants have been coming forward following the anti-competitive case lodged against Urban Deca Condominiums in 2019 for imposing an ISP exclusivity deal. Its property developer was ordered to pay a fine of P27.11 million.
“The lessons of previous abuse of dominance cases filed by PCC should already inform property developers of putting exclusive ISP deals to a stop.
Through the Enforcement Advisory Letters, voluntary compliance will add to the firms’ badge of good corporate governance while giving residents the benefit of consumer choice,” Balisacan said.