THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) came out with a Preliminary Statement of Concerns on Aug. 25 on the acquisition by PLDT and Globe Telecom of San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) telecommunications assets. Coincidence or not, it’s strange that PCC issued this document a day before the Court of Appeals (CA) granted PLDT’s motion for a writ of preliminary injunction to stop PCC from reviewing the P70-billion deal. Definitely, had the PCC come out with the 16-page document two days later, it would have been sanctioned by the appellate court. That was certainly an anti-competitive situation if there ever was one, and a situation where the public was deprived of better internet speed for years. The PCC can help the public experience these by not allowing one inactive telco to hold all of the 700 MHz + LTE spectrum.

Source: Manila Times September 06, 2016 16:07 UTC