BUENAVENTURA, Angeline B.

Information Management

11293756

June 29, 2016

REACTION PAPER: PLDT and Globe Telecoms Acquisition of SMC's 700 Mhz Frequency
The idea of improving our internet coverage sounds promising at the onset due to many
Filipinos frustrations on the speed of the internet here in the country. To date, we are among the
highest users of social networking sites and most businesses rely heavily on the internet for
day-to-day transactions. However, we are also among the lowest ranking countries when it
comes to internet speed. Lawmakers are just as dumbfounded on how to enforce
telecommunications companies to improve their internet speeds and to make sure that we are
getting what we paid for.
When

news

of

partnership

between

SMC

and

Telstra--an

Australian

telecommunications company--came up, many had high hopes for the partnership until a few
months after said talks fizzled with finality. As such, SMC, who had already invested in a 700
MHz frequency to accommodate the speed that we would like to have, started to put the
frequency in the market for sale to interested parties. PLDT and Globe Telecom jumped at the
chance to be able to acquire such technology. The idea of SMC entering the market as a third
player, to force the other two companies to give competitive prices to their services, was
welcomed by many because that would mean giving many Filipinos the choice between
services that would suit their needs. Currently, there are two companies that cater to the
telecom needs of the Filipinos and having a third player would have been a welcome change to
the very abysmal performance of the two companies.
Personally, I would like to have many players in the market to give the people the
freedom to choose among the companies. The lack of competition is very alarming considering
that internet has recently become a basic need as well. PLDT and Globe are able to manipulate
the prices according to their bidding and they mostly do this to satisfy their own interests and not
of the consumers. They both know that many Filipinos depend highly on internet services and
regardless of what they do to their prices, Filipinos will still use their services because frankly,
we are at the point where we cannot live without internet.