PLDT, Inc. is keen on partnering with a Chinese company to become the third player in the country’s telecommunications industry.
“I think it’s a rather novel idea. And I think it’s something we should consider at the PLDT level,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT president, chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters on the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines annual membership meeting on Monday at the Bonifacio Global City.
“Yeah, either at PLDT or at Voyager or both,” he added, referring to Voyager Innovations, Inc., the digital innovations unit of PLDT and subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc.
He made the statement when asked about his views of a third player entering the industry as announced by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
He said his “stock answer” would be that he welcomes a third, fourth or fifth player, which Mr. Duterte said he would offer to a Chinese company.
“Voyager is in the process of looking for strategic partners and it’s possible that we may have a Chinese partner,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
“Voyager is a start-up innovation company, not only in fintech, but they’re also in e-commerce, they’re also in marketing technology as well,” the PLDT chairman said.
He said it would not be up for the company to say whether there is room for a third player in an industry dominated by PLDT and Smart on one hand, and Ayala-led Globe Telecom, Inc. on the other.
But should the PLDT group partner with a Chinese firm, Mr. Pangilinan said: “Most likely they would come in at the Voyager, the parent company.”
“We will announce it when it happens,” he said, adding he would want the partnership to happen “as fast as we’d like to.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Duterte offered China the chance to operate the third telecommunications carrier in the country during a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. No specific Chinese company was mentioned.
“The telecom industry’s duopoly is about to end with the entry of the Facebook subsidiary as well as the offer by the President of the People’s Republic of China to operate the third telecom’s carrier,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. had said.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
Source: bworldonline
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