PLDT objects to Globe-BayanTel merger

Dylan Bushell-Embling
15 Nov 2013
00:00

The Philippines' PLDT has written to regulators opposing rival Globe's planned acquisition of a controlling stake in BayanTel.

PLDT is objecting to the planned debt-to-equity transaction on the grounds that it would breach regulations on spectrum allocation, the Philippine Star reported.

Securing access to BayanTel spectrum would give Globe a combined 95 MHz of spectrum it could use for 4G, compared to the 35 MHz available for PLDT mobile units Smart and Digitel.

This would be a disproportionate allocation considering PLDT's 68% share of the mobile market, which would be “grossly unfair and anti-competitive,” the company wrote in its objection.

Globe has not pulled its punches when responding to PLDT's filing. ABS-CBN News quotes Globe legal counsel Froilan Castelo as denying that the proposed transaction is anti-competitive or anti-consumer.

He compared the planned takeover to PLDT's acquisition of mobile operator Digitel in 2011 – a transaction he said was “monopolistic” because unlike BayanTel, Digital and its Sun Cellular brand had been a healthy competitor and eating into PLDT's mobile market share.

He also implied that PLDT was letting the filing distract from ongoing relief efforts in the wake of typhoon Yolanda.

PLDT responded to this last point in a public statement. “This case has nothing at all to do with Typhoon Yolanda,” PLDT spokesperson Ramon R. Isberto said.

“We filed our opposition even before the typhoon came. This legal dispute should not distract us from working on our respective responsibilities to restore our services and assist in relief work.”

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