The Department of Information and Communications Technology asked the potential third telecommunications player to focus on providing fixed-broadband services to compete with the duopoly of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.
“Instead of starting to compete with the duopoly in mobile services, where they are already strong with two decades of infrastructure building and more than 105 million subscribers, the third player will compete initially in the fixed services, where the duopoly is weak, with only 17 percent establishments, homes and offices having internet access,” Eliseo Rio Jr., officer in charge of DICT, said.
Rio said the third player could use the last mile infrastructure of electric companies that would team up with it.
“In case of Metro Manila and other densely populated urban areas, there are now technologies that offer residential customers high-speed Internet access through the air. The service is a fast and affordable alternative to cables and fixed lines, that can give symmetrical 100 Mbps [megabits per second] download and upload speeds to homes. And frequencies are available for this,” he said.
“Having more fixed line access would greatly decongest the mobile network of Globe and Smart, improving their QoS [quality of service]. So the immediate solution to improve internet speed and cost is to provide more fixed line access,” Rio said.
He said the government could provide the new player with a big market because it would subscribe at to least 250,000 free Wifi access points nationwide in compliance with Republic Act No. 10929.
“The third player won’t have to worry about its International Gateway Facility or their nationwide backbone because the government will take care of this. So initially, the third player will deal mostly with fixed access to the internet, bringing fast and low cost internet to even the remotest areas of the country, where small BPOs can exist, on-line government services will be available, health and education services will greatly improve,” Rio said.
Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. earlier signed a memorandum of agreement with Chengdu Zhongxing Tiantong Technology Corp. to explore the feasibility of engaging in a project to provide free wireless broadband services in designated public areas before, during and after the occurrence of disasters in any part of the country.
PTT, which secured a franchise extension last year for another 25 years, offers fixed broadband to residential and business establishments in Metro Manila.
It aims to become a significant player in the broadband industry which is currently being dominated by Globe Telecom, PLDT Inc. and Sky Broadband.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier asked China to tap one of its companies as the third telco player in the Philippines. China then designated China Telecom, the second largest telecommunications company in the East Asian country, to help set up the third telco in the Philippines.