Poe: Tweaking Charter to allow foreign telco players possible

Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday aired the possibility of amending the economic provisions of the Constitution to allow for tighter competition and more foreign investments in the country’s telecommunications industry.

Poe made the statement after PLDT Inc. reportedly agreed to surrender “at no cost” to government one of its radio frequencies with the potential entry of a third telecom player in the country.

“Well first of all meron naman talagang nakalaang frequency, hindi ko alam kung ito’y hawak ng sino man pero ang importante kasi ganito, pwede tayo magka-third player at yun ang gusto natin, magkaroon ng kompetisyon, so kung magkaroon ng foreign investment sa ating bansa, bakit hindi,” Poe who chairs the Senate committee on public services, said.

“Kaya lang yung batas natin kailangan natin amyendahan kasi sa ngayon hindi pinapayagan sa telco ang foreign-controlled corporations so kung maia-amend natin, yun ang dapat natin tutukan, yung amendment ng economic provisions para mapayagan ang more competition at foreign investments na maglilikha ng maraming trabaho sa ating bansa,” she added.

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Officer-in-Charge Eliseo Rio Jr., in an interview over radio dzMM radio on Wednesday, said PLDT Inc. chair Manuel Pangilinan has agreed to return one of its Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise (Cure) frequencies to government.

“Kay MVP (Pangilinan), talagang pumayag na po siya sa utos ni Presidente. Yung frequency ng Cure yung 3G it will be available to the third telco player, whoever will be chosen,” Rio was quoted as saying.

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque also said that the “telecommunications duopoly in the country is about to end,” as President Rodrigo Duterte had invited China to operate the third telco carrier in the country, to compete with Smart Communications and Globe Telecom. /muf