Last year, one of the priority
initiatives of the Duterte administration started to pick up speed towards
realization: the introduction of a third major telephone company in the
Philippines, to break the duopoly in place between PLDT-Smart and Globe. After a
tense period wherein interested tech firms presented bids to establish a
nationwide-covering telecom for consideration by the government, the
newly-established consortium of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company Inc. (Mislatel)
was given a timetable to develop its mobile and internet infrastructure for wide
public use by this year. According to the latest word, Mislatel might soon be
ready to accept subscribers.
CNN Philippines reports that Mislatel, a consortium between
Filipino and Chinese telecom operators, is committing itself to deliver a
performance bond of P25.7 billion to the Department of Communications and
Information Technology (DICT) by early next month. In doing so, they can soon
receive the vital Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity as early as
July 8, officially designating them as a major telecom provider. Of course
getting such a qualification will come with expectations, and the P25.7B will
act as a surety that Mislatel can deliver on its service promises, including
27Mbps internet speed.
The DICT acting Secretary Eliseo
Rio Jr. notes that Mislatel is mere months away this 2019 from starting to
offer its services to customers in the country. According to Rio the third
telco will start, as is prudent, by setting up in the major cities of the
Philippines, especially Metro Manila. While attending the National ICT Summit
this Tuesday, June 25, acting Secretary Rio estimated that come September or
October Mislatel will be in place to accept subscriptions from users. To reach
that end the company has begun scoping out areas for cell-sites and infrastructure,
possibly helped by DICT offering some 2,500 locations to build “common” communications
towers that can be shared by multiple telecom providers, according to ABS-CBN News.
Mindanao Islamic Telephone Inc.
is the brainchild of Dennis Uy, businessman and known ally of President Rodrigo
Duterte. With Chelsea Logistics from Uy’s Udenna Corp. holding company and the
Chinese state-run operator China Telecom, Mislatel as a consortium has the
muscle it needs to pose a credible competition to Globe and PLDT-Smart, the two
of which have over the past years been passing users between each other with no
real alternative to both of them. Undoing their duopoly has been one of
President Duterte’s priorities.
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