Globe Telecom to Bid for Red Mobile’s 3G Spectrum
In Q1 of 2011, the Philippines telco juggernaut PLDT, announced that it will acquire 51.55% of Digitel’s stake — amounting to Php 69.2 billion at the time the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) approved the acquisition late last year. The acquisition raised concerns among subscribers for possible monopoly of telecom services, however, NTC has set conditions before it approved the PLDT-Digitel merger. One of such conditions is for PLDT to continue the “unlimited” offers of Sun Cellular, the country’s third largest mobile carrier which was then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digitel.
Another significant condition set by NTC is for PLDT to surrender to the regulator one of the 3G frequencies licensed to Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise, Inc. (CURE), or more popularly known as Red Mobile. Red Mobile is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smart Communications, a mobile and internet service provider in the country which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PLDT as well. (more…)