House OKs Mislatel sale, transfer to China Telecom

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives approved a resolution on Monday allowing the “transfer, sale or assignment of the controlling interest of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co.” (Mislatel) to the group of Davao businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecom.

Concurrent Resolution No. 23 was approved on the day Congress resumed its session after a three-month election campaign recess. The House adopted the Senate’s version of the resolution.

However, the “plenary highlights” for Monday’s session do not reflect the adoption of the resolution. The highlights are a report of what was taken up in the session.

But the list of resolutions in the House website indicates that the House agreed to the version of the Senate on Monday.

It is not clear why such agreement or adoption of the resolution was not reflected in the plenary report.

With the development, share prices of Dennis Uy-led companies soared yesterday, despite overall market weakness.

Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (CLC) finished at P6.79 per share, up 8.24 percent yesterday.

Mislatel Consortium has committed to invest P257 billion through the five-year commitment period. It promised to cover 84 percent of the Philippine population in five years.

It also committed a minimum average internet speed of 27 megabits per second in the first year.

CLC said in a disclosure yesterday that it was verbally informed of the approval on May 20.

In an interview yesterday, Uy said the consortium can now proceed with its plans. “We can get organized already,” Uy said.

In particular, Mislatel can now proceed with the necessary submissions for the increase in capitalization as required by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Mislatel will then file the required documents with the NTC under the Terms of Reference – a prerequisite to the issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, and the grant of frequencies.

Aside from CLC, shares of another Uy-led company, ISM Communications Corp., climbed 8.62 percent to finish at 6.42 per share.

According to its profile in the Philippine Stock Exchange, ISM – a holding company – currently owns 32 percent of Acentic GmbH (Acentic), a German provider of internet connectivity and inter-room entertainment solutions for the hospitality industry. The company likewise owns a 37.1 percent stake in the Philippine Bank of Communications.

Uy earlier acquired 45.13 percent of ISM, making him the single biggest shareholder of the company. The acquisition was made through Dennison Holdings Corp., a company beneficially owned and controlled by Uy.

Uy’s Udenna Corp. and China Telecommunications Corp. formalized their investment agreement to develop the country’s third telecommunications service provider in a signing ceremony in Beijing on April 25.  –  With Iris Gonzales