"Big business, it seems, is bigger than the highest official
of the land."
"Big business, it seems, is bigger than the highest official
What is the National Telecommunications Commission up to? Instead of facilitating the entry of a third telecom carrier, the NTC seems to be putting up barriers. Is it NTC’s game plan to maintain the status quo of the Smart-Globe stranglehold on consumers? It’s time to break up the duopoly’s years of bad and expensive service. Poor reception yet expensive cellphone calls and late delivery of text messages are bad enough. It has become the new normal.
Consumers’ complaints and demand for better service seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The NTC also appears to be ignoring, if not defying, President Rodrigo Duterte’s call in his State of the Nation Address for a third telco player.
The NTC’s Memorandum Circular No.0909-2018 goes against the President’s desire for a more efficient and less costly calls and text messaging to benefit the people who are already reeling from the spiraling prices of consumer goods.
Why is the NTC being stubborn, resisting the President’s directive to help the people? We are not imputing any irregularity on NTC officials. But as public officials it behooves them to submit to a lifestyle check without the President or the Commission on Audit requiring them to do so.
A third telco player? But of course, I am for it as a taxpayer and a consumer who has been long subjected to poor service by the duopoly which must be challenged by a new player on the field. Competition benefits consumers. The dominant carriers need to do better. There is no need for Globe and Smart to fear a new and third player. With their vast resources, all they have to do is improve customer service.
Before, just a franchise from Congress and NTC Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity were required of anyone to apply as a telecom service provider. No standard then in the 90s, no standard now. An interested party can offer and claim the best and cheapest service. The new player though has to prove its performance to continue as a service provider
Today as the date for the submission of bidding documents approaches, more and more bidders are in a quandary to the merits of the NTC circular. An in-depth study of the Circular shows it will be very hard for a new applicant to get over the barrier as laid out by NTC, because the Circular is in itself a barrier.
Although it has been processed through public consultations and a decision to have the highest committed level of service was adopted as against the auction of frequencies, applicants for new player status are having difficulty making sense of the Circular.
The NTC circular requires the bidder to have the following:
Paid-up capital of at least P10 billion based on its latest audited statement;
At least 10 years experience from 2008 in the provisioning, delivery and operations of telecommunications services on a national scale;
Domestic corporation must have congressional franchise;
Participant must be uncontested of obligation to the NTC as of 01 Oct. 2018. These obligations should have been paid (SRF) and SUF including possible penalties and surcharges;
Payment of participation security of at least P700 million for 180 days.
Who will earn from this fund? It must be noted that the participation security fund is different from the performance security bond.
In sum, all these are barriers meant to discourage the entry of a third telco player.
From all indications, unless President Duterte steps in to order the NTC to remove these impediments, the duopoly will continues its dominance in the industry and over millions of subscribers and consumers. Big business, it seems, is bigger than the highest official of the land.
