Mislatel expected to secure permit by July

MANILA, Philippines — The government is expected to award to the Mislatel consortium the frequencies it won along with its permit to operate by the first week of July, making official the entry of a third telecommunications player in the country.

“We are looking at maybe July 7 or 8 for this sort of exchange of frequency and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). Once they get this, they can operate as a telco,” Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio said in an interview with The Chiefs on Cignal TV’s One News.

“But even as we are speaking right now, they already started rolling out their infra, starting in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao. And that’s why I am saying maybe before the end of this year, they can start. Their first subscriber will come from these places,” Rio said.

In a disclosure to the local bourse, publicly-listed Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., a member of the incoming third telco player, said the consortium completed Thursday the signing of the share-purchase agreement (SPA) that brings it closer to operate as the country’s third telco player.  

The deal was signed by Udenna Corp. chairman Dennis Uy, Chelsea president and chief executive officer Chryss Alfonsus Damuy and China Telecommunications Corp. deputy managing director Xiao Wei.

Following  Congress’ approval of the transfer of ownership last May 20, Mislatel updated its timetable of key activities to obtain its CPCN or permit to operate from the National Telecommunications Commission by next month.

As required by memorandum circular 09-09-2018, Mislatel must comply with the P10 billion capitalization requirement and the submission of a performance bond to be granted its frequencies and the CPCN.

“We’re really hoping to get everything fixed by July. The signing of the agreements is a vivid manifestation of the fulfillment of our goal to provide Filipinos with faster and reliable internet connection. We are grateful for the support and cooperation shown by the approving bodies. Our unified efforts will pave the way for better telecommunications services for all,” Damuy said.

The Mislatel consortium is set to be awarded with frequency bands of 700 megahertz (MHz), 2100 MHz, 2000 MHz, 2.5 gigahertz (GHz), 3.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz.