Head of telco seeking franchise fails to connect to hearing, irks Poe

Sen. Grace Poe during Monday’s hearing.

MANILA, Philippines — Officials of a telecommunication company seeking to apply for a franchise earned the ire of Sen. Grace Poe on Monday after they failed to secure a stable internet connection to be able to participate in the Senate hearing tackling their application.

Poe told Instant Data Inc. that she was a little bit disappointed because the telco applicant came unprepared.

“Let me already express a little bit of a disappointment because you should have come in ready with your connection or if there’s a problem, you should have at least said it ahead of time. Especially, you’re applying for a telco franchise,” Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, said.

Before this, a representative of the company informed the committee that its president, Alfonso Cruz, “cannot be here today.”

“We apologize… he’s having trouble with his connection, unfortunately,” Instant Data Inc. corporate secretary Stephen Joseph said.

Poe then said the company’s president should “show his face” to the committee at least even towards the end of the hearing “so we know who we’re granting this franchise to.”

“Although we would like to hear what the representative has to say, we need to hear a commitment directly from the owner or the chairman of the company, otherwise we would have to defer your application,” the senator said.

In response, the company’s corporate secretary said: “We totally understand.”

At this point, one of the Instant Data Inc.’s director gave an overview of the company’s intention to “fill in the gaps of internet broadband connectivity and provide some of the underserved Filipinos across the archipelago in a faster and more affordable high quality broadband internet through modalities.”

Poe then asked the company why the Senate should grant its franchise.

“Bakit naman kayo bibigyan ng prangkisa, bakit kayo pwedeng pagkatiwalaan niyan?” she asked.

(Why should we give you a franchise? Why can we trust you with this franchise?)

Instant Data Inc. technical consultant Alex Paredes, who was supposed to answer the question, was not able to connect to the teleconference.

“What’s happening?” Poe asked.

At this point, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri intervened and suggested that the franchise of Dito Telecommunity Inc. be tackled first to give time to Instant Data Inc. to address connectivity issues among its officials.

Poe agreed: “Let’s move you to the second half [of the hearing.]”

EDV