PT&T refutes DICT claims on discontinued operations

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has refuted claims made by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) that it stopped operations when it underwent corporate rehabilitation.

“The intent of going through a rehabilitation is not to stop operations, but rather continue to operate in view of getting better.  PT&T’s operation has been continuous even during the rehabilitation,” PT&T president and CEO James Velasquez said.

PT&T said its broadband service has been in full-swing and continuous up to this day, serving both private businesses and even government agencies.

It ceased operating local telephone services and shifted to serving broadband internet services without interruption in its assigned region, as well as in NCR and Region 3 using its available fiber plant in place.

“The fast moving change in the telecom Industry from legacy switched services to IP driven services that can deliver voice, data and video all in the same facility has made it imperative for PT&T to change its business and operating platform. This is a fact that DICT/NTC missed or simply ignored,” said Jose Luis Santiago, chairman of Retelcom Holdings of the PT&T Group.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved PT&T’s application to increase its authorized capital stock to P15.6 billion from P3.8 billion. It approved the conversion of P8.7 billion in debt into equity.

PT&T was granted an early exit by the rehabilitation court last August, and the debt-to-equity conversion is considered a major milestone in the rehabilitation exit.

On Nov. 16, PT&T filed a petition for certiorari  with the Supreme Court assailing the acts of the NTC during the selection process for the third telco bidding.

PT&T alleged that the NMP (new major player)  selection committee “gravely erred” when it interpreted the term regional operations under the rules and regulations as applicable only to foreign companies.

Last week, it filed an amended petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court to supplement and further strengthen the arguments previously raised in its earlier petition.