The possible third player in the local telecommunications industry should invest in “fixed services” to thoroughly compete with the existing duopoly, which is marred by complaints of problematic reception and slow internet service, a senior official said Sunday.
In a Facebook post, Department of Information and Communications Technology officer-in-charge Usec. Eliseo Rio dismissed concerns that the third player “is doomed to fail” should the government fail to reallocate radio frequencies from the duopoly led by PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom.
“What I am saying is that instead of starting to compete with the duopoly in mobile services, where they are already strong with two decades of infrastructure building and more than 105 million subscribers, the third player compete initially in the fixed services, where the duopoly is weak, with only 17 percent [of] establishments, homes, and offices having internet access,” Rio said.
“Why would we insist in being connected to mobile access services when we are at home, offices and establishments where we spend around 80 percent of our daily activities? Why not use a fixed access when this can be faster and less expensive than mobile access?” he added.
The proposal, he said, will also give his department time to focus on creating more equitable frequency allocation policies for fair competition among three or more service providers.
Meanwhile, with the possible third telco player next year, Senator Win Gatchalian called on Malacañang to certify as urgent his bill that would allow users to "easily transfer network providers without changing their preferred mobile numbers."
Gatchalian is the principal author of the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act, or Senate Bill 1636, a substitute bill to his earlier Senate Bill 1237.
Under the measure, mobile subscribers are given the preference to move to other network providers while retaining their existing mobile numbers.
“This would actually reinforce the government’s campaign to break the existing duopoly in the telco industry. If it’s really the government’s priority to fix the telecommunications industry in the country, the President would need to certify this bill first,” Gatchalian explained.
However, Rio admitted the dominant market players “will not give up the frequencies that are allocated to [them] or even share these, without a fight that will bring us to courts.”
“This will take years, time that the third player doesn't have,” the DICT OIC said.
The third player can also use “last mile infra[structure] of electric companies” and “technologies that offer residential customers high-speed Internet access through the air” as a fast and affordable alternative to cables and fixed lines, that can give symmetrical 100 megabits per second download and upload speeds to homes.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the DICT and the National Telecommunications Commission to hasten the entry of the third player in the Philippine telecom industry by the first quarter of 2018.
Duterte likewise instructed all national and regional government agencies and local governments to issue the required permits within seven days upon complete submission of requirements. He also warned courts from interfering and challenging the planned approval of the telecom third player.
Gatchalian, meanwhile, said the telecom problem should be approached from both ends.
“On the one hand, you open the field and encourage participation from other players. On the other, you give your consumers the flexibility on which service they want without losing their digital identity,” he added.
China Telecoms has been endorsed by the Chinese government to invest in the country’s telecom sector during the bilateral talks Duterte had with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last month.
“The third player is a great welcome (to consumers). If we have more players, more services will be added. Prices will be lower, and competition shall be healthier. It will be to our best advantage as consumers,” the senator added.
Through his measure, telecommunication carriers will be compelled to offer better deals because of shifting network preferences. This will give consumers the freedom to choose what they truly need. Similar pieces of legislation were adopted in more than 100 countries across the globe, Gatchalian added.
