Henry Sy mulls bid for 3rd telco slot

MANILA, Philippines — Banking and retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. may join the race to become the country’s third telecommunications player.

His Philippine Global Communications (Philcom) is now studying the government’s terms of reference (TOR) for selecting the third telco player.

“We’re still reviewing the TOR,” Philcom chairman and president Willy Ocier told The STAR over the weekend.

The company will decide if it indeed wants to vie for the third telco spot once the final TOR is out, he said.

Industry sources said it’s still difficult to decide on a third telco bid because the TOR keeps on changing.

Earlier for instance, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said the third telco company must have a huge net worth or paid-up capital of at least P10 billion but it said last week this is no longer necessary.

On Feb. 19, the DICT and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) released a draft memorandum circular requiring interested bidders to have a minimum capital of P10 billion.

But during the public consultations, Rio said stakeholders were concerned about the requirement.

“We are no longer basing it on the amount they will invest, we are now basing it on the actual resource and service they will commit,” Rio said.

Instead of the paid-up capital, Rio said the DICT would look into other parameters such as internet speed and the level of commitment it can provide.

The department intends to publish the final version of the terms of reference on April 9. The tentative date for accepting bids is on May 24.

Rio said that instead of a paid-up capital, DICT will instead impose a “performance bond” on the winning bidder.

DITC, in a letter to Ocier, has invited Philcom to join the bidding.

According to its profile on Bloomberg, Philcom provides communication solutions which include Reach Dedicated Access, a service that provides subscribers leased line connections to the Internet; and Reach DSL, a service that provides access to the web at breakneck speed for video and audio files, network gaming, streaming, and bandwidth-heavy applications.

It also offers internet services with an option to avail IPTV channels for SM tenants, voice solutions that provide connection to domestic and international long distance traffic and data solutions that offer dedicated lines using digital technology to enable point-to-point connection that caters to domestic and international requirements of companies.

It was formerly known as Radio Corp. of America (RCA). The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Makati City.

Other potential third telco players are Now Corp., Easy Call Philippines, Villar’s Streamtech Systems Technologies, PT&T and foreign firms China Telecom, China Mobile and North Telecommunications.