DICT firm on naming third telco by December

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is firm on naming the third telco player by December this year despite criticisms that the timeline is too tight for prospective bidders.

During the information campaign discussion on the selection on Tuesday, DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said that changes to the timeline will not be possible as this was "the desire of the President."

The acting DICT chief said that President Rodrigo Duterte is already getting impatient with the numerous delays in getting a third telecommunications company in the Philippines to challenge PLDT and Globe Telecom's dominance.

"His first timeline was end of March. As far as the President was concerned, he was not happy,” Rio said.

Duterte earlier warned that he would "take over" the selection of the third telco if by early November it is still unclear who the new major player will be.

During the discussions, however, former National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chief Ronald Solis argued that the government's timeline was "too tight" for prospective bidders to comply with.

“The bidding would happen on November 7, that’s more than just a month from now. And it appears there are still a lot of questions,” Solis said.

Based on DICT's timeline, the final memorandum circular which was published on September 21 will take effect October 5.

By October 8, Monday, prospective bidders may now buy bidding documents at the NTC and they have until November 7 to do so.

The bidders have until October 22 to submit questions. The government, meanwhile, has until November 22 to answer the bidders' inquiries.

On the sidelines of the event, Rio told reporters that so far no prospective bidder has expressed issues with the timeline, as some were already working on their plans as early as February.

For his part, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said the government will follow the schedule even if there is only one bidder.

"If only one bidder submits selection documents, it is not a failure bidding. We will proceed," Cordoba said.

Likewise, Rio said a failure of bidding will only occur if there are no qualified candidates among the bidders.

The government is using the highest committed level of service model to select the third telco player. It has set three criteria to score the bidders: committed national coverage, committed internet speed, and committed capital expenditures.

Because the industry is considered a duopoly dominated by rivals PLDT and Globe, calls have been made for a third telco player to raise the quality of service while lowering the costs to consumers. — BM, GMA News