PLDT-Digitel deal still on, says Pangilinan

MANILA, Philippines - Telecommunications magnate Manuel V. Pangilinan said yesterday the deal involving Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.’s purchase of a controlling stake in Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel) is still on, and that they will wait for the government to act on the planned purchase despite the lapse of the closing date deadline.

The proposed transaction, which will create a behemoth controlling 70- percent share of the multi-billion peso mobile market when completed, has yet to be cleared by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Pangilinan pointed out that neither PLDT nor Digitel has terminated the agreement entered into in May which involves the purchase of 51.55 percent of Digitel, the country’s third largest telecom company with 15 million subscribers, for P69.2 billion.

While indirectly saying that his group was amenable to extending the closing date of Aug. 26, Pangilinan said there is a provision in the agreement that says an extension could be made if the only condition lacking is the approval of the government. 

Digitel operates mobile brand Sun Cellular, which pioneered the unlimited call and text service in the country that forced its major rivals to follow suit. 

Pangilinan likewise emphasized that they did not coerce the government to approve the transaction by Aug. 26, pointing out that such date was the record date for the payment of dividends to PLDT shareholders. 

“In any deal, you need to set a deadline. It can’t be open-ended,” said Pangilinan, when asked how long it could wait for the government to decide on its transaction.

“In the meantime, we will just wait for the government to act on it. We need to see what the govenment’s conditions are and bring these up to the board as well as to Digitel’s owners,” Pangilinan further said.

The NTC is conducting a comprehensive review of the transaction to “ensure that its decision will be in conformity with existing laws and would promote the national interest.”

The deal, if approved, would also increase PLDT’s frequency to 45 megahertz.

PLDT’s main rivalGlobe Telecom has earlier called on the NTC to strip PLDT of one of its frequencies in the third-generation (3G) band to avoid creating an imbalance of allocations in favor of one group. In the 3G spectrum (850 to 2,100 megahertz bandwidth), PLDT holds 56 percent. 

PLDT, however, said there is no legal or factual basis for compelling the company to cede the frequencies assigned to it.  

Globe and Sun Cellular enjoy only 29.8 percent and 18.2 percent share of the market, respectively.