{"id":138086,"date":"2017-12-11T04:47:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=138086"},"modified":"2017-12-11T04:47:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T09:47:00","slug":"andanar-names-china-telecom-as-3rd-telco-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/11\/andanar-names-china-telecom-as-3rd-telco-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Andanar names China Telecom as 3rd telco player"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said China Telecom would invest in the Philippines to improve internet service in the country. (PCOO Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) named on Sunday the Chinese firm that would serve as the third player in the country\u2019s telecommunication industry.<\/p>\n

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said China Telecom would invest in the Philippines to improve internet service in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese government has selected a company that will invest in the telco (industry) of our country. It is China Telecom, the largest telecommunications company in China,\u201d Andanar said over dzBB.<\/p>\n

As of the end of 2016, the telco firm said they have about 215 million wireline broadband subscribers.<\/p>\n

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte has offered China the \u201cprivilege\u201d to operate as a third key player in the telecommunications industry to break the current duopoly in the country.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the offer was made during Duterte\u2019s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, noting the \u2018seriousness\u2019 of the president about the entry of a third telecommunications carrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the bilateral talks between President Duterte and the Chinese Premier, President Duterte offered to the People\u2019s Republic of China the privilege to operate the third telecom\u2019s carrier in the country,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

As of now, Globe Telecom, Inc. and PLDT, Inc. are the only service providers in the country.<\/p>\n

Also at present, the Philippines has one of the slowest and most expensive internet speed in Asia Pacific, paying $40.96 for 13.41 Mbps.<\/p>\n

The country also ranked 69th<\/sup>\u00a0out of 77 countries when it comes to long-term evolution (LTE) availability and 74th<\/sup>out of 77 nations in terms of LTE speeds, according to a report released by coverage wireless mapping company OpenSignal this month.<\/p>\n

However, Roque said that with the end of telecom\u2019s duopoly because of the entry of a new player, consumers will attain \u201cbetter telecommunications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Andanar said China Telecom has to find a local partner as the Constitution confines foreign ownership of a public utility to 40 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is fast-tracking this because our countrymen are already irritated by dropped calls and slow internet. This is the reason why the President opened the doors to a third player,\u201d Andanar added.<\/p>\n

Senator Win Gatchalian, on the other hand, is optimistic that the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act will encourage entry of new players and stimulate healthy competition within the telecommunications industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulator and the policy maker, we are in harmony to make it free. But we will include a provision in the law to let the NTC determine who will absorb the costs, if ever. I think that should be left with the regulator to determine. It is too fluid to include in the law, but we will give the NTC flexibility to determine…but from a consumer’s standpoint, it will be free,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Lifetime Cellphone Number Act (Senate Bill No. 1237) aims to provide convenient movement of mobile subscribers from one service provider to another while retaining usage of their existing cellphone numbers, whether prepaid and postpaid. This flawless subscriber-transfer among telco players is seen to generate improved services with better deals to offer which will greatly benefit consumers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) named on Sunday the Chinese firm that would serve as the third player in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":138098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[38255,34220,37775,14855,8460,13135,20852,31449],"class_list":["post-138086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-china-telecom","tag-chinese-premier-li-keqiang","tag-communications-secretary-martin-andanar","tag-globe-telecom","tag-pldt","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-presidential-communications-operations-office-pcoo","tag-presidential-spokesperson-harry-roque","mauthors-carlo-jacob-molina","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}