THE government is barring parties with outstanding liabilities to the government from joining the bid for the third telco spot, the latest amendments to policy guidelines for the selection process showed.
Memorandum Order 003 – 2018 issued by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said participants with uncontested supervision and regulation, and spectrum users liabilities as of October 1 will not be allowed to join the election process for the major telco spot. This allows entities engaged in smaller telco operations to pay for their outstanding liabilities before submitting their proposal to the government.
Based on a document from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), there are about 97 telcos with legal franchises for telco services. As of September, all of them have a combined total liability of P1.4 billion in supervision and regulation fess. To date, only P12.47 million has been paid of the said total.
The list also includes companies under the wings of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc., the two major players in the industry. Companies or entities that have a tinge of linkage to either of the two are barred from joining the selection process.
The third player is expected to be named by December. The government is at the onset of the “legal process” for the selection of the new major player in the telco market.
Bid documents for the third telco spot will be available on September 26. Bid submission will be scheduled about one or two months after.
In selecting the new major player, the government will base its decision on the highest committed level of service for five years. It is a points-based system that will take into account commitments on national population coverage, minimum average broadband speed, and capital and operational expenditures.
Local groups interested in the third telco spot are Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Now Corp. Converge ICT Solutions Inc., EasyCall Communications Philippines Inc., Transpacific Broadband Group International Inc. and TierOne Communications International Inc. Foreign groups that have so far signified their interest are: China Telecom, Korea Telecom, LG+, Vietnam Telecom, Telenor, AT&T and a Japanese telco provider.