NATIONAL | Third telco player to be named in May or June —DICT

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MANILA - The so-called third player in the telecommunications industry will be named in May or June, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Monday.

In an interview on  GMA’s Super Radyo dzBB, DICT officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio said the announcement date has been adjusted to give prospective telcos more time to prepare for the bidding.

“Kailangan ho talaga nila ng panahon to come up with a very, very good proposal. Nagnenegotiate pa. Ang lahat ‘yan may due diligence. Pinagbibigyan ho natin na more or less siguro mga two months,” he said.

The department earlier said it wanted to accept bid documents from participating telcos on March 27, and announce the winning bidder on April 2.

"Maaadjust pa po ... Late May or early June—‘yan po ang more or less reasonable,” Rio said.

The third player is expected to be operational four to six months after the winning bidder has been announced. So that would be in September or October.

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“Kung sabihin natin mabigyan sila ng frequency, authority to license ng mga Mayo, at the end of May, for example, give them, let’s say, about four months, six months, bago natin maramdaman ‘yung pag-unlad sa merkado,” Rio said.

“Magke-create pa ho ‘yan sila ng kanilang subscriber base. Hindi lang basta-basta isang araw andiyan na ‘yung subscribers nila,” he said.

In the same interview, Rio said the DICT and the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) are now drafting the terms of reference for the selection process.

“‘Yung aming terms of reference sisikapin naming this month mailabas na ho 'yan. ‘Yun ang magiging basehan ng mga contender para i-organisa ‘yung mga sarili nila— pagkuha ng kanilang investment commitment, at lahat ng kailangan para makapag-submit sila ng investment proposal,” he said.

Rio clarified the claim made earlier by Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque that the Philippines has already accepted a specific third player.

“Wala pa ho ‘yung talagang selection process. Dinadraft pa po namin ng NTC. DICT-NTC nagdadraft ho ngayon ng selection process, ng isang terms of reference na doon ibe-base ‘yung pagselect ho ng third player,” he said. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS,