No NTC approval, no Digitel deal – PLDT

Philippine Long Distance Co. (PLDT) will be dropping its plans to purchase controlling stocks of erstwhile competitor Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel) if regulators do not come out with a decision by Aug. 26. In a text message to GMA News Online, the telecommunications firm’s regulatory affairs and policy head Ray Espinosa said PLDT's senior management fully agrees with and supports the position of Manuel Pangilinan, the group's chairman. “Just like any deal, you have to go by a certain timetable," Espinosa said. “There is no serious deal that is open-ended in terms [of] time. Timing is important," he stressed. The PLDT executive was referring to the long-awaited decision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the regulatory body tasked to approve such kinds of transactions. The NTC concluded its hearings on the joint application of PLDT and Digitel for the approval of the P69.2 billion share-swap deal between the two firms on July 18, but exactly a month had passed and the regulator has yet to come up with a final decision. PLDT lamented that it had to push back its own deadline for the conclusion of the deal twice because the NTC proceedings had dragged on longer than expected. PLDT had earlier accused Globe Telecom Inc., the chief oppositor to the deal, of employing delaying tactics to stall the progression of the NTC hearings. “A cursory examination of Globe's allegations reveals that they are utterly bereft of merit and are obviously intended to prevent the [NTC] from proceeding to receive the parties' evidence," PLDT earlier said. Espinosa, meanwhile, did not disclose if the other party to the deal, JG Summit Holdings which owns Digitel, has been made aware of PLDT's decision. — MRT/VS, GMA News