Gov’t Seeks ‘Equitable Redistribution’ of Telco Frequencies

The government will push for an “equitable redistribution” of telecommunications frequencies to allow a third firm to better compete with PLDT Inc and Globe Telecom, a Cabinet official overseeing the search for the new player said Monday.

Globe and PLDT hold a majority of available frequencies, leaving the yet unnamed player with less than a third, Department of Information and Communications Technology officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio told a Senate hearing.

 “The new major player can operate with the present frequencies that will be awarded but in the long run it will need additional frequencies. This is why we are going to come up with policies for the equitable distribution, redistribution of the spectrum,” Rio said.

Policies to redistribute the available frequencies will be in place by the first quarter of 2019, he said. This will include monitoring of underutilized and unused frequencies, he said.

Rio said earlier in the hearing that barring court action, a “provisional” third player may be named as early as November. Three of 8 firms that bought bid documents are foreign, including China Telecom.

The Philippines’ NOW Corp has questioned the selection process in court, saying it had turned into a money-making scheme. – ABS CBN News