‘Globe takeover of Bayantel legal, above board’

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. turned the table on dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) saying the proposed acquisition of cash-strapped Bayan Telecommunications Inc. is legal.

Froilan Castelo, general legal counsel of Globe, said in a statement that it was the P69.1 billion acquisition of Digital Telecommunications of the Philippines Inc. from the family of taipan John Gokongwei that was monopolistic in nature.

 â€œEverything’s legal and above board. This is unlike PLDT’s monopolistic acquisition of Digitel-Sun since Digitel-Sun was a very healthy competitor that was eating, in fact, into PLDT-Smart’s market share,” Castelo said.

He pointed out that the acquisition of Bayantel by Globe is a valid restructuring and rehabilitation program promulgated by the Branch 158 of the Pasig regional trial court.

He added that the Office of the Solicitor General has not posed any objections and that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) approved the co-use by Globe of Bayantel’s frequencies in October last year.

 â€œThis time, there was broadly-based recognition of the need to rehabilitate Bayantel – foremost among which were its major creditors like Goldman Sachs Group, Clearwater Capital Partners, Avenue Capital and the U.K.-based Spinnaker Capital,” he added.

He is confident that the application filed by Globe and Bayantel before the NTC is not anti – competitive, anti-consumer nor an unfair trade practice as claimed by PLDT in its verified opposition.

He said Globe would study the opposition filed by the PLDT at the NTC.

Globe said PLDT should concentrate on addressing the needs of the typhoon victims in the Visayas and avoid divisive discussions on its opposition to the Bayantel restructuring and rehabilitation program with Globe.

“We at Globe have been working hard and against all odds in bringing back our service to the typhoon-stricken areas of the Visayas as well as helping the victims with their other needs,” Globe said.

“We’d rather not engage in any hostilities initiated by PLDT at a time when our brothers and sisters are in grief,” the telco provider added.

Castelo said that he was disturbed upon learning of the PLDT opposition moves because all along, what Globe was doing was to help Bayantel get back on its feet, and allow Bayantel to continue its operations, ensure the continued employment of 1,100 workers.

The transaction would empower Bayantel to contribute to the growth of the telecommunications market and industry as it is currently servicing about 500,000 customers nationwide.

The transaction would allow Globe to acquire a 56.6 percent interest in the cash-strapped Bayantel through a debt-to-equity transaction. Once approved, Globe and Bayantel would be able to utilize each other’s property, services, infrastructure including radio frequencies.