DICT upbeat on points-based telco selection
THE Department of Information and Communications (DICT) is “very confident” that its point-based system, not the auction-based search backed by the Department of Finance (DoF), will be used in picking the Philippines’ third major telecommunications company (telco).
In a statement on Tuesday, Acting Information Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. confirmed that he wrote in a private Facebook message that he would resign if the oversight committee tasked to choose the thid telco rejected his department’s highest committed level of service (HCLoS) model.
“[W]hen I said it, I didn’t expect it to be publicized,” he said.
“It was an expression of passion and confidence. It just shows that we are very confident in the viability of the
HCLoS model in choosing a truly competent telco, one that is dedicated to service, and not just for profit,” he added.
Under this model, a point system, similar to those used in beauty competitions, will be used to identify the new telco player. It has three criteria: capital expenditures (40 percent), national population coverage (40 percent), and minimum average broadband speed (20 percent).
According to the DICT, 11 out of 15 telcos with congressional franchises prefer the system over an auction, which they see as a barrier.
It said it would convene the panel on Friday to finalize the selection process.
Representatives from the Information and Finance departments, and the Office of the Executive Secretary and of the National Security Adviser make up the committee, which President Rodrigo Duterte creted in April following telco selection delays.
Rio’s remarks came a day after he indicated that he could defer to the panel, despite earlier insisting that it had no power to rule on the selection process.
“Out of courtesy to the member secretaries, we have to seriously consider their inputs and cannot just ignore them. So if there is a deadlock in the discussions, the best way is to put the issue to a votation,” Rio said on Tuesday.
The remarks also came a week after he wrote on Facebook that an auction would lead to “more expensive” services and only benefit telco giants PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.
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