DICT relaxes financial rules for 3rd telco player
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is dropping the P10-billion net worth requirement for the third telco players in the country. DICT officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio said committed services and not financial resources should be the basis for choosing the country’s third major telecommunications player. Rio said the P10-billion capital required will be waived because the DICT has been listening to comments from the stakeholders. Since the DICT is now taking into consideration the bidders’ commitment on coverage, speed connectivity in terms of mobile calls and text messages, mobile data, and fixed broadband, the government will impose a “performance bond” on the winning bidder. NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said the performance bond may be about P40 billion.
