Duterte to select country’s 3rd telco player by Christmas

President Rodrigo Duterte said his office would pick the country’s third telecommunications player in December if the selection process remained unresolved by November.

“If by early November there’s no decision yet, I will take over. I will place it under the Office of the President,” he said in a televised tête-à-tête in Malacañang on Tuesday.

“I will invite the businessmen here and I will decide in front of them. ‘Give me your position paper, I will read it, and in about 30 minutes I will come back, and I will decide,’” he said.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology announced early this year that the third telco player would be named by October.

A third telco player is intended to break the “duopoly” in the industry of Globe Telecom and PLDT Inc.

Best track record

The President gave assurance that the public would be informed about the third telco player by Christmas.

“By Christmas, the people will know who the third telco player will be,” the President said.

The President said he may select the bid from a company with the best track record.

“I will choose the best, the most expensive and with the best track record in the business. I don’t like the lowest bid system … I don’t trust that. Lowest bid, it always ends up in a disaster,” he said.