Third telecom gets license

[Mike J]

Hopefully this will result in some real increase in availability, reliability, speed of phone and internet service.  

https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/08/19/mislatel-gets-license-to-operate-as-third-telco-player

MANILA (1st UPDATE) - It's all systems go for the Dennis-Uy led Mislatel consortium as it finally received on Monday its license to operate as the Philippines's third telco player.

In a ceremony in Malacañang earlier today, President Rodrigo Duterte personally awarded the certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to Uy.

"The entry of this Mislatel Consortium – assuming that it complies with this commitment – is indeed a milestone in our efforts to provide fast, reliable, secure, and more affordable telecommunication services to the public," Duterte said.

The consortium, which will be renamed Dito Telecommunity Corporation, is expected to begin commercial operations by 2020.

Mislatel, which is made up of Uy's firms and China Telecom, posted a P25.7-billion performance bond for their commitments as the new major player.

In its first year of operation, the company committed to deliver 27 megabits per second (Mbps) internet speed covering 37 percent of the country. 

It also promised to offer 55 Mbps of internet speed that covers 84 percent of the population within 5 years. 

The new player also intends to spend P257 billion pesos in infrastructure and service rollout.

[Old55]

"Mislatel, which is made up of Uy's firms and China Telecom, posted a P25.7-billion performance bond for their commitments as the new major player."

 

So it's Chinese owned. 

[Tommy T.]

Hey Mike, I am not sure if anyone should get real excited about this quite yet. I remember reading the lead-up to this deal and it didn't sound pretty. This consortium defaulted on making a required deposit to secure its position as third telecom. It is also - as you read there - consists of a large Chinese influence.

Like all of us, I want to see competition to the complacent Globe and Stupid (sorry, I meant Smart) whose customer service - at least to us - smacks of the old Bell Telephone - "We don't care...we don't have too." - attitude. At least that's been our experience. But I am not sure if this new outfit has the cojones to pull this off - but we hope so. Cautious optimism is our feeling...

Edited July 10, 2019 by Tommy T.

[Mike J]

7 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Hey Mike, I am not sure if anyone should get real excited about this quite yet. 

Did you notice the first word of my post was "hopefully" 

[Tommy T.]

1 minute ago, Mike J said:

Did you notice the first word of my post was "hopefully" 

Yeah, I did. Just trying to reinforce that part of your post!

[Ram1957]

Competition is always good. Maybe the current companies will figure that out before they end up out of business. As of now the consumer doesn't really have much to lose. The current providers don't seem to know what customer service is all about yet. Maybe something will change with a new competitor entering the market. Only time will tell.

[Jack Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Ram1957 said:

Maybe something will change with a new competitor entering the market. Only time will tell.

 The cake is not going to be any larger though is it? All they will do is Divide between 3 instead of the two. They need a another Internet Provider not another seller selling what will become just a pizza Slice 

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

31 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

They need a another Internet Provider

That makes me wonder if the Philippine Internet is limited by the size of the undersea cables that connect us to the world, of just limited by PLDT doling out bandwidth to the resellers in miserly amounts.

[Jack Peterson]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

That makes me wonder if the Philippine Internet is limited by the size of the undersea cables that connect us to the world, of just limited by PLDT doling out bandwidth to the resellers in miserly amounts.

 Not sure I can answer this without it sounding silly but maybe they should be saying OK, you want to sell your Service Fine but you gotta supply your own cable to get it here, bit like telling our Gang of workers look Boys I don't have enough Tools for you all to borrow, so Bring your Own  Having said that Why do we not have a Large Satellite service here, Sky seems to have gone Back to Cable yet I still see small dishes on Roofs. Ships and Planes use satellites why not the Philippines? 

[Mike J]

24 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

Ships and Planes use satellites why not the Philippines? 

Limited bandwidth and high expense is the primary reason.  There are a couple companies planning or in the process of launching large number of LEO (low earth orbiting) satellites to provide internet service at reasonable prices to anywhere on the globe.  Amazon for example has said they plan on launching 3236 satellites.   SpaceX plans on launching  as many as 12,000, yep 12,000.   Gonna get crowded up there for sure if all these plans come to fruition.