spot_img
27.4 C
Philippines
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

NTC lists Mislatel among valid telco franchises

- Advertisement -

The  Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company (Mislatel) on Sunday rejected   claims that question the validity of  its  franchise, saying that Mislatel’s franchise is included in the National Telecommunications Commission’s list of valid and subsisting franchises, among other factual bases.

NTC itself had issued a list of national telecommunications franchises that were eligible for the selection process for the New Major Player (NMP) for the telecommunications industry,  Mislatel’s  counsel John Coluso said in a statement.    Mislatel said it has no contract with TierOne contrary to claims made by  Luis Chavit Singson that his company has an existing and exclusive contract with Mislatel specifically for the selection process for the NMP.  

“What Mislatel had was a terminated contract with a company called DigiPhil that was meant for small projects, like VSAT,” Coluso said“To be very clear, the contract with Digiphil was not intended for the purpose of submitting a bid with the NTC for the NMP for the telecommunications industry.  A simple reading of the contract shows that it makes absolutely no reference to the third telco bid,”  Coluso pointed out.

Moreover, the contract was nevertheless terminated on October 5, 2018, Coluso said.

TierOne submitted a failed bid with the NTC although they had a valid franchise (Sear). Their bid was disqualified not because of any act on the part of Mislatel but rather merely because they were unable to secure the required participation security, which was required by the NTC’s Terms of Reference (TOR) and the Instructions to Participants (ITP) for the selection process. 

- Advertisement -

Unlike TierOne, Mislatel has complied with all of the NTC’s requirements and this is why it has been conferred Provisional NMP status. The NTC selection process has been fair and transparent and for failure to even comply with a basic requirement, TierOne has been rightfully disqualified, Coluso said.

“Obviously, all these allegations against Mislatel are not only baseless but also utterly malicious. It was meant  to cast aspersion not only on the bidding process itself but on the administration’s commitment to provide our people a more efficient and more reliable telco service provider,”Coluso stressed.

These claims maligning Mislatel’s superior bid as the country’s third TELCO provider are nothing but an unnecessary distraction on President Duterte’s bid to break the duopoly in the  telecom sector and should be therefore ignored, Coluso said.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles