Palace believes telco services to improve with entry of Chinese firm

December 12, 2017

Malacanang expressed belief on Tuesday the telecommunications services in the Philippines will improve with the entry of a Chinese firm.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said it was a political decision on the part of President Rodrigo Duterte to offer China to be the third player in the Philippine telco industry.

"It was brought up in bilateral negotiations between the Philippines and China. And the eventual player that was chosen by China, China Telecom without doubt is one of the biggest in the world. And of course, we want to avail of the fact that we’re very proximate to China," he said.

"But it was a political decision of the president to offer it to a Chinese company. Intended I guess also to strengthen our bilateral ties with China, coupled with the fact that given the huge telecoms market in China, Chinese companies ought to have already technical know-how in providing competent and reliable telecom services," he added.

Contrary to the previous administration, the Duterte government decided to have a friendlier stance with China despite the territorial dispute between the two countries.

But some quarters have raised security concerns with China as the third player in the local telco industry.

"Well, as far as security considerations are concerned, we will look into that because there are really concerns overall on cyber security in general. And it’s been a priority of the government anyway," Roque said.

China Telecom has to partner with a Filipino company in order to operate in the Philippines. Under the Constitution, foreigners are allowed to own up to only 40 percent of a firm.

Roque admitted there could be challenges to face when a foreign telco firm enters the country.

"So it would not be as simple as it seems. There will be legal challenges. But we are confident we can overcome all these challenges because after all it is our commitment to provide viable public service in the telecoms industry to the Filipino people," he said.

Currently, with only Manuel V. Pangilinan’s PLDT Inc. and Ayala-led Globe Telecom as the major players in the country, the public has been complaining of their poor services. Celerina Monte/DMS