A big group of consumers yesterday rejected the merger of the Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT) and Digital Communications Philippines Inc. (Digitel), saying this may create a dominant telecommunications company to the detriment of the public.
The Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines said the merger would allow the company to control over 70 percent of the market and enjoy a huge advantage in having a greater bandwidth granted by the government.
“When that happens, PLDT-Digitel will definitely have control over the telecom market, effectively eliminating competition,” the group, which has some five million members nationwide, said.
Records from the National Telecommunications Company showed that PLDT was allotted a radio frequency bandwidth of 113 megahertz (MHz) for its 45 million subscribers, while Digitel has 42.5 MHz for its 14 million subscribers.
“Clearly, the balance will tilt heavily in favor of PLDT and Digitel, leaving Globe barely hanging on,” AGAP partylist Rep. Nicanor Briones said.
“With PLDT in control, how else would you call that, except monopoly? And when monopoly prevails, it will be back to the good old days of PLDT, but back to the bad old days for consumers—with PLDT pricing its products and services at will and servicing its subscribers when they feel like it,” Briones added.
The group called on the government to judiciously and fairly exercise its regulatory powers to study the true and eventual effects of the merger on subscribers.
Published : Thursday, June 09, 2011
Written by : Hector Lawas
Source URL: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/6956-group-bucks-pldt-sun-merger
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