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Friday, March 29, 2024

PT&T backs inclusion of roll-out plan in telco bid

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Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Co. is supporting a proposal to require potential bidders to submit roll-out plans to ensure that the new major telco player has the expertise and capability to challenge the duopoly PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. 

“A preliminary roll-out plan is normally required in any bidding. In fact, I raised this matter in the DICT [Department of Information Communications and Technology] public consultation meeting months back,”  Renato Garcia, executive vice president and board director of PT&T said when sought for a comment on the statement made by potential bidder Now Telecom Co. Inc. 

Now Telecom asked the government to require bidders to submit roll-out plans as part of the selection process. 

Based on the DICT’s new version of the terms of reference, bidders are not required to include the roll-out plan in the list of selected documents and it is only required to be submitted by the winning bidder within 90 days after its selection or such other period agreed upon with the National Telecommunications Commission.

“From my understanding, this proposal is consistent with the recommendations of the ITU experts to support of the validation and evaluation to be done based on the coverage [Form A], speed and investment [Form B] ratings,” he said.

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Garcia, who has been in the IT and telecommunications industry for the past 45 years, said the submission of roll-out plans would further strengthen the position of the President and DICT that the selected new major player should have the technical expertise and capability to implement the program. 

PT&T, a potential third player,  holds a 25-year franchise, which allows the company to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems for domestic and international communication in the Philippines.

Its existing, scalable network and infrastructure, spanning over 1,000 kilometers of pure fiber optic cables allow it to easily meet the network demands of customers in the Greater Manila area, northern and southern Luzon and Cebu.

President Duterte earlier said the government would name the new major player in the telecom market by the end of 2018.

“We will have a third telco before Christmas. The ball is now at the hands of NTC,” DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio said. 

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