The Emerging Duopoly: PLDT-Smart and Globe

[uls]

Ang gobyerno kasi ni GMA operates in constant survival mode.

To survive, it has to do stuff to please the masses.

Tulad ng...

Ibaba ang singil sa kuryente. Pano? Harass Meralco to lower power rates.

Gawin libre ang text. Pano? Harass telecom companies to make SMS free.

POPULIST

yan ang sinasabi ko hostile business environment dito sa Pinas.

Imbes na i-encourage ang mga negosyante mag-negosyo at mag expand ng negosyo, i-haharass ng gobyerno ang mga negosyante.

[jpdm]

The government should help the telecom firms instead of harassing them...

They should encourage the telecom firms to give more to consumers by reducing further their rates...with the competition down to 3 or 4 big firms.....I hope more firms with come out and compete...

[jpdm]

Manila Standard
June 15, 2008
PLDT eyes 1 million broadband subscribers this year By Roderick T. dela Cruz



Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. plans to increase the number of its Internet subscribers to about a million by December.
Company chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the group’s subscribers to myDSL and SmartBro wireless broadband services exceeded 600,000 as of March and “will approach a million by end-2008.”
As of April, the group’s DSL and wireless broadband subscribers actually reached 695,000, up by 20 percent from a year ago, according to PLDT president and chief executive Napoleon Nazareno.
In the first quarter, the group’s broadband and Internet revenues grew 51 percent to P2.5 billion. This followed a 46 percent increase in broadband and Internet revenues amounting to P7.6 billion in 2007.
Broadband and Internet revenues accounted for 7 percent of the group’s consolidated revenues last year.
Nazareno said PLDT was spending for additional international bandwidth capacity to support the country’s business process outsourcing industry.
In May, PLDT inaugurated its second cable landing station in La Union, as a part of the $550-million Asia America Gateway, where PLDT is an investor.
At the completion of the project, PLDT said it would have a near terabit capacity to serve the growing needs of both residential and corporate customers.

hmmm....broadband naman....

[jpdm]

A small player such as Cruz telco should be supported..including Digitel and Bayantel....

Business Mirror
June 20-21, 2008

[SIZE=3]Telco asking for more time to roll out network[/SIZE] By Lenie Lectura Reporter SMALL phone firm Cruz Telephone Co. Inc. (Cruztelco) is asking the National Telecommunications commission (NTC) for additional time to roll out its planned infrastructure that will make use of a new-generation network (NGN).
Cruztelco vice president for operations and marketing Enrico de los Reyes said in an interview the phone firm has asked the NTC for an additional three years within which to roll out and operate the network.
“We really need sufficient time to put up and operate the system by deploying the network that is more cost-effective. We have asked the NTC to reconsider an earlier decision revoking our permit to operate fixed-line service in most areas in Mindanao,” he said.
The NTC ordered in April the revocation of Cruztelco’s permit, said de los Reyes. “The NTC said we failed to roll out lines there for a very long time, that’s why it revoked our permit. But we told them we had plans to install broadband facilities and we need three years to do that,” he said.
Cruztelco is earmarking P100 million to upgrade its facilities into NGN. The official said the company must evaluate how it can undertake the network redesign to suit the technology. “If we installed traditional lines three years ago, then all of these would have become obsolete. So we had to review our options and evaluate how to cope with the rapid advances in wireless technology. It would be much more expensive to roll out fixed lines,” he said.
The company official said Cruztelco will initially spend P30 million to upgrade the company’s network.
Funding, he said, will be sourced from a combination of internal cash and borrowing. “We are talking to some lenders. Sixty percent of our requirement will come from loans,” added de los Reyes.
Earlier, Smart Broadband Inc. (SBI), the wireless broadband unit of Smart Communications Inc., acquired some assets of the Mindanao-based phone firm.
The acquisition enables SBI to operate in Surigao City; Butuan City, Cabadbaran and Nasipit in Agusan del Norte; Tagum City in Davao del Norte; Bayugan, Prosperidad and San Francisco in Agusan del Sur; and Cagayan de Oro, Medina and Balingasag in Misamis Oriental.
De los Reyes earlier said proceeds from the Smart buy-in will be partly used to finance the company’s investments in NGN.
“Our goal is to be NGN-ready by 2010. We will comply with the government’s mandate. It was a business decision on why the company entered into an agreement with SBI,” added the official.
Cruztelco is a member of the Philippine Association of Private Telephone Companies, a group which, along with other phone giants Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Globe Telecom, Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. and Bayan Telecommunications Inc., promised to help the government in building a broadband network.
SBI’s wireless broadband service, branded Smart Bro, is an integrated part of the PLDT Group’s strategy to be at the forefront of “broadbanding” the country.

[jpdm]

Business Mirror
October 28, 2008


Innove Takes on PLDT, Seeks TRO on Bonifacio Global City tussle


Lenie Lectura, reporter



INNOVE Communications Inc. lashes back at Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) for seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO to stop regulators from implementing a 2002 circular, saying the phone giant’s move exhibits “monopolistic greed and criminal scheme.”


“The issue in the present case is PLDT’S monopolistic beliefs, practices and greed, on one hand, versus Innove’s right to render public telecommunications service in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and public service itself, on the other. The choice for this Honorable Court in resolving the reliefs prayed for by PLDT is obvious.



Public service cannot wait and it cannot be sacrificed because of PLDT’s monopolistic greed,” said Globe Telecom legal counsel Rodolfo Salalima. Innove is a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe.

They are coming back.

Old habits hard to break

[True Faith]

Yup, I think so especially in the provinces...

[True Faith]

What happened to the over hyped 3G system?

[jpdm]

What happened to the over hyped 3G system?

Wala.

The service is very expensive.

The government should have to break up the fast rising oligopoly again in the telecom industry..

[jpdm]

Philippine Star


Business

[SIZE=3]Broadband rising as next battleground for RP telcos[/SIZE]

By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes

Friday, November 14, 2008
Amid lackluster demand for mobile phone services, broadband Internet connectivity is fast rising as the next battleground for telecommunications companies.


Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has reported that its total broadband subscriber base now stands at 880,000, 51 percent higher than the figure as of end -2007.


Rival Globe Telecom, meanwhile, said it is significantly growing its broadband subscriber base, which has reached 175,000 as of end-September this year, compared with 116,000 in the same period last year, also a 51 percent increase.


Smart Bro, the wireless broadband service of PLDT’s Smart Communications, showed no signs of slowing down as its wireless broadband subscriber base grew 57 percent for the first nine months of 2008 to reach 473,000 as of end-September adding about 65,000 new subscribers for the third quarter alone.

This is the new battle ground of the telcos..

[True Faith]

Sun Cellular is becoming very aggressive.

Getting to be a good alternative...

Good for the consumers.