Frequency issues delaying 3rd telco entry

The never-ending debate over whether the upcoming telco player should pay for its frequency has been causing unwarranted delay for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to finish its terms of reference (TOR) that will pave the way for the entry of third telco player.

This was revealed by DICT acting secretary and officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio Jr. on Wednesday in a radio interview.

“Everybody is suggesting that the government should earn revenue from those frequencies, but the problem is we have not done any auction for the telco frequencies because we have given them to early entrants for free,” Rio said.

In his previous interview, Rio said that the government has no more 2G frequencies to give as they were already controlled by dominant players Globe and PLDT. 2G frequencies support text messaging capabilities.

However, there are sufficient 3G and 4G frequencies that would allow the third telco to provide a range of Internet applications where demand is on the rise.

Rio also allayed fears that the third telco initiative is “dead,” assuring the public that by the end of the year, the duopoly between Globe and Smart in telecommunications industry would finally come to an end.

“We are confident that by the end of this year, there will be a third telco that will start operating and provide services. Maybe next year or so, the public will feel the impact of better telecommunications service,” he said.

Earlier, Rio said that the possible third telco player could get ahead of Globe and Smart by immediately offering 5G mobile internet, saying that the new telco player would have the advantage of not getting bogged down by legacy equipment.

“So, that would be something that would make them more efficient in breaching or having the first crack at 5G,” Rio said.

Telcos in South Korea, Japan and China that have signified their intention to take part in the bidding for the next major telco are already testing 5G equipment, Rio said.

The call for a third telco player is one of the campaign promises of President Rodrigo Duterte amid the public’s clamor for the two telco giants to raise the quality of their services while lowering the costs to consumers.