January 31st, 12:05am January 30th, 9:52pm Mario J. Mallari

The Senate is leaning on approving the franchise of the Mislatel consortium that won the bid to become the third major telecommunications player and “cure” the defects on its franchise later, Sen. Grace Poe said.

Poe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said she would make her recommendation on the phone firm’s franchise subject to the approval of her colleagues.

“It seems,” replied Poe, when asked if she would recommend the go-signal for Mislatel after wrapping up the Senate inquiry on the third telco yesterday.

Poe’s panel is expected to release its committee report next week.

“I don’t want to preempt others because it will go through a vote. There are varying opinions on this. On my part, I will present it and if the Senate would allow it because I think there is an emergency need for such service,” she added.

For his part, Mislatel spokesman, lawyer Adel Tamano, maintained the validity of the company’s franchise.

“No quo warranto proceeding has been filed against the franchise of Mislatel. There has been no revocation by Congress of the franchise of Mislatel. Without going into the legal matters, there has been no positive act that would revoke the existence of the franchise,” Tamano said.

He added there was no sale of the controlling interest of Mislatel but rather a subscription and an increase of capital stock.

“What happened was the initial entry of Nicanor Escalante and the other shareholders into Mislatel was not through a sale of controlling interest, which is basis for an ipso facto revocation, but rather it was through subscription and increase of capital stock,” Mislatel’s counsel said.

Poe stressed that Mislatel stands to lose P27 billion in investment if its project is halted by a court order due to questions on its ownership and franchise.

The senator said the Senate may also “cure the defect and questions” surrounding the legality of Mislatel’s franchise.

“We have to cure perhaps the provision of not just only Mislatel but the general franchise provision to make it clear who has the power to ipso facto revoke,” she said.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, during yesterday’s hearing, reiterated his questions on the ownership and franchise of Mislatel, headed by its president and chief executive officer Nicanor Escalante.

He said the franchise has been deemed ipso facto revoked for non-operation within a year after its franchise was granted in 1998. The failure to list in the stock market and to get Congress’ nod when it sold 70 percent shares in 2015 was also questioned.

For his part, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri maintained his support for Mislatel.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Mislatel had cleared technical issues on its operation as the third telecommunications operator which are its needed frequency spectrum, lowering of interconnection charges, using the dark fiber lines of state-run National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and establishment of a common tower policy.

Mislatel was able to add 5 megahertz of 3G frequencies which puts the new telco provider ahead of other telcos.

The interconnectivity cost would also be reduced after the National Telecommunications Commission came up with a memorandum circular to bring down rates to 50 centavos from the current P2.50. DICT said the new rate is one of the lowest in the ASEAN region.

Mislatel also signed a joint partnership with Transco for the use of 2,200 dark fiber assets as its backbone.

The DICT also opened the market for common tower providers through several memoranda of understanding that will make possible the entry of $4.4 billion investment for the construction, maintenance and operations of at least 50,000 common towers in the country.