At least five local and seven foreign companies are interested in becoming the third telecom operator in the Philippines, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) announced. The local firms are PT&T, Now, Converge, Transpacific-Broadband and TiereOne, acting DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. told reporters on the sidelines of a public hearing on the draft terms of reference in selecting the third player. The foreign candidates include China Telecom, Korea's KT and LG U+, Viettel, Telenor, Japan's KDDI and AT&T.
Rio said it was still too early to say whether all the named operators would participate in the bidding process, but the companies had shown interest, reports GMA News. Due to constitutional limits on foreign ownership, the foreign operators must partner or form a joint venture with local companies. The draft terms require participants or one of the consortium members to have a congressional franchise.
During the public hearing, the National Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said stakeholders have 10 days to submit their position papers on the draft terms of reference. After 10 days, the NTC and DICT have seven days to prepare and publish the final memorandum circular on the selection process, which will be in place after 15 days. The bidding process may take one to two months from the day the final terms of reference are available.
Rio told reporters that the timeline presented by the NTC could still change, but the new operator should be known before the end of 2018. The company will compete with the existing operators Globe Telecom and PLDT.
