PCC: Telco services still poor despite Globe-PLDT-SMC deal

Seal of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) (Photo By Philippine Competition Commission – Philippine Competition Commission, Public Domain)

MANILA — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said mobile and internet services of Globe Telecom, Inc. and PLDT, Inc. remain poor a year after acquiring San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) telecommunications assets, including the 700MHz frequency.

PCC made the statement after the Court of Appeals (CA) released Monday its decision on the Globe-PLDT-SMC telco deal, which favored the private sector.

The CA upheld the legality of the PHP69.1-billion telco deal, ordering the PCC to “cease and desist from conducting further proceedings for the pre-acquisition review and/or investigation of the subject acquisition.”

“The Philippine Competition Commission has yet to receive the official copy of the decision from the Court of Appeals. Rest assured, however, that we will take the appropriate legal steps to move this multi-billion acquisition case forward,” the PCC said.

The CA’s decision effectively stops any third player from competing with the duopoly of the two big firms in the local telco industry.

“We note that a year after the sale, the public continues to complain of slow, expensive and poor quality of internet and mobile services. If anything, this has further fueled our determination to safeguard the market and promote the interests of consumers,” the anti-trust body stressed.

To recall, the telco firms claimed that their transaction was deemed approved since they filed a notice of the deal to the PCC.

But the PCC argued that the transaction should still undergo review and the notification to the anti-trust watchdog should not be filed “merely for the sake of submission.”

“The Philippine Competition Commission is a national government agency duly mandated by law to review mergers and acquisitions for their possible negative impact on fair competition in the market,” PCC said.

“We are firm in our resolve to perform our mandate under the law,” it added.