Vodafone, a British telecommunications conglomerate, has shown interest in entering the Philippines as the third telco player.
According to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Vodafone told the Philippines’ economics team that they want to enter the local industry in a “big way”. The said meeting was held during the economics team’s trip to the UK last week.
Diokno discussed the possibilities to Vodafone and told them that the Philippines is welcoming proposals.
The budget secretary then said that the telco giant is “trying to find out if it is worth their while to participate” on the selection of the third player and that Vodafone “don’t want to get involved in shady deals”.
This could be a huge development to President Rodrigo Duterte’s order for faster internet in the Philippines and the call for a third telco player to break the duopoly of PLDT and Globe.
As of the moment, a number of local and foreign companies have already expressed their interest in the third telco spot. These Philippine companies include PT&T, Converge ICT, Now Corp., Transpacific Broadband, and TierOne.
On the other hand, the list of foreign names include China Telecom, LG U+, KDDI COrp., AT&T, Telenor, Vietnam Telecom, and KT Corp.
President Duterte initially said that he wanted the third telco player up and running by the first quarter of 2018. But from what it looks like, the competition for PLDT and Globe wouldn’t be operational by, at least, next year.
Source: GMA News