As per the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), a couple of telecommunications companies based in Europe are showing interest in entering the Philippines as congress just allowed 100% full foreign ownership in the telco industry and other public utilities.
Lars Wittig, ECCP president, said that the ratification of the bill that amends the Public Service Act (PSA) is an “absolute massive game-changer and it will create double-digits, billion-dollar investments.”
Last week, the upper and lower congress ratified the report of the bicameral conference committee on the proposed measure to modernize the PSA. Now, the bill is just waiting for the president’s signature.
The measure wants to remove the ambiguity about the term “public service” and “public utility”.
Public utilities are identified as: the distribution and transmission of electricity; petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems; water pipeline distribution systems and wastewater pipeline systems, including sewerage pipeline systems; seaports; and public utility vehicles.
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What the proposed law wants is, the industries not included on the list will remain public services and can be 100% foreign-owned.
Now, the ECCP president said that the European companies who showed their interest in the third telco bidding back in 2018 can now “go back and go for the 51%, 99%, or 100% ownership.”
Wittig is certain that European telcos are “very keen” on entering the local industry now that the 40% ownership limit is being abolished.
The ECCP president didn’t name names, but during the 2018 third telco bidding, European telcos who showed interest are Vodafone from UK, Mobitel from Austria, and Telenor from Norway.
Ultimately, Dennis Uy’s China Telecom-backed DITO Telecommunity was hailed as a winner.
Via: GMA News Online