PLDT Inc. said Tuesday it expects Congress to renew the franchise of its mobile phone unit before it expires in March 2017.
“The House bill extending the legislative franchise of Smart for another 25 years has been approved on second reading by the plenary body of the House of Representatives last Dec. 13, and approval on the third and final reading is expected as soon as the House resumes in January 2017,” PLDT said.
The country’s largest telecom company said Smart would seek the approval the Senate as soon as possible, or once the House approved on the third and final reading the amended House bill and officially transmitted the same to the Senate when sessions resumed.
PLDT said Smart was not required to immediately cease operations as soon as its franchise expired in March next year.
“There is no law or jurisprudence that requires such immediate cessation of public services to the prejudice of the public,” PLDT said.
“Furthermore, in the worst case, Smart can transfer its mobile telecommunication business to Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc., another duly enfranchised and operating mobile telecommunication operator owned by PLDT,” it said.
PLDT, partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, earlier booked a net income of P15.87 billion in the first nine months, down by 37 percent from P25.34 billion a year earlier.
Core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, dropped 20 percent to P21.74 billion from P27.08 billion.
Consolidated revenues also declined 2 percent in the nine-month period to P125.39 billion from last year’s P127.87 billion.
The consumer wireless business group posted service revenues of P55.8 billion, down 5 percent from the previous year. Mobile internet revenues jumped 37 percent while wireless broadband increased 13 percent.