NTC told to study effects of PLDT's Digitel acquisition

The Senate committee on public services on Thursday asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to study the possible effects of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.'s (PLDT) acquisition of Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. or Digitel, operator of Sun Cellular. "The NTC is in the best position to assess the impact of this transaction on consumers and the public in general," Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., chair of Senate committee on public services, said in a statement. If the acquisition pushes through, PLDT will be owning a big chunk of the domestic mobile network industry, Revilla pointed out. PLDT already owns Smart Communications Inc., Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise Inc. (Red Mobile), and Pilipino Telephone Corp. "While a change of ownership of corporations is usually [an] ordinary business... we must ensure that public interest is upheld in this transaction," Revilla said. The senator said he asked the NTC to submit its report to the Senate committee in the next two weeks. The Senate committee on public services is now in the process of conducting technical working group meetings to reorganize the NTC and to give the commission "broader powers" in overseeing the telecommunications industry. — TJD/JE, GMA News