Broadband battle ‘unites’ PLDT and Globe vs SMC

By Riza Lozada

Fierce telecommunications rivals Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom appear to have temporarily set aside their “differences” and joined forces to denounce the “anti-competition act” of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in refusing to share the 700-megahertz (MHz) band needed to upgrade the country’s Internet connections.

Both PLDT and Globe are calling for an equitable distribution of the frequency in a transparent manner among existing operators and new entrants.

Both telecommunications companies (telcos) have repeatedly sought an allocation of the 700 MHz frequency from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which, to date, has not acted on these requests.

The two companies said there was an urgent need to distribute the unused frequency to help bridge the gap in Internet speeds between the Philippines and other countries in the region.

“What is anti-competitive is the present situation where San Miguel controls the entire 700 MHz band, as well as substantial unutilized chunks of radio spectrum in other frequency bands through various corporations,” said Ramon Isberto, head of the PLDT and Smart Communications Public Affairs Office.

“Our position on this matter has been consistent. Since 2008, we have asked that the 700-MHz radio frequency band be reassigned from broadcast TV to mobile telephony and the said frequency be equitably distributed in a transparent manner among existing operators and new entrants,” he added.

Spectrum is the “real estate” on which telecommunications operators develop their respective network to deliver services to customers. The amount of spectrum assigned to a telco impacts on the cost to build capacity, overall network performance, ability to offer new multimedia services and general customer experience of wireless services.

Using the 700 MHz would allow the deployment of a high-capacity LTE-based wireless and fixed broadband network to deliver higher data rate and LTE wireless broadband service.

With the use of the 700 MHz frequency, broadband prices could go down, further benefiting consumers. Globe vowed to exert all effort toward achieving an “equitable distribution” of the 700 MHz spectrum, as it underscored the significance of the frequency in elevating the state of the Internet in the Philippines.

“We hold the position that the 700 MHz frequency should be reallocated for the benefit of the country and the industry. We have been calling on the NTC to do this since 2005 and we will continue to exert all effort to get that reallocated. In an era of very scarce spectrum resource globally, we should be utilizing all our resources in delivering high speed data to our customers,” Globe General Legal Counsel Froilan Castelo said.

Castelo said only the Philippines and Thailand in the Asia-Pacific have major issues preventing their allocation of the 700 MHz band to mobile broadband technologies, according to data gathered by the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA).

“We continue to call on the government and our regulators, in particular, to ensure the equitable distribution of that spectrum throughout the industry,” Castelo said.

Both companies expressed confidence that former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, as the first chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), would help resolve the problem soonest.

The PCC is tasked to ensure fair competition in the business sector, and prevent anti-competitive agreements, mergers or acquisitions that substantially restrict competition, and foster abuse of dominant position.

Balisacan said one of the sectors the PCC will focus on is the telecommunications industry, which should naturally include a study of the 700 MHz issue and how San Miguel has been able to obtain and maintain control of the scarce frequency, in spite of calls for a public bidding.

The need for the PCC to act on the frequency issue, according to neutral observers, has been made more critical by the “glaring lack of NTC action,” despite moves by governments all over the world to reassign the use of 700 MHz frequency band from broadcast TV to mobile telephony.

The European Commission has, in fact, finalized a proposal this month to coordinate the use of the 700 MHz band across the European Union to make it available to mobile operators.

In particular, EU hopes the spectrum would eventually help enable next-generation 5G mobile via “special services” to do demanding things, such as controlling autonomous cars, connecting health-monitoring equipment and other technologies.

Isberto said governments have taken this action to help bridge the “digital divide,” as the 700-MHz band is well suited for mobile data technologies and would make it easier and faster to deliver Internet services, even in rural areas.