Leading Philippine telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) might give up its plans to acquire a majority stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) due to regulatory difficulties. The company confirmed in a notice to the Philippine…
Leading Philippine telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) might give up its plans to acquire a majority stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) due to regulatory difficulties. The company confirmed in a notice to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it may cancel the planned acquisition of a 51.55% stake in number three player Digitel if it fails to get regulatory approval by 26 August.
In early August, PLDT announced that it was pushing back the closing date for the second time because of antitrust concerns from the regulator and rival companies.
The PhP74.1bn (US$1.7bn) deal had first been scheduled to be completed on 30 June before being moved to 30 July and later to 26 August.
During that time, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been reviewing the transaction, since PLDT might end up holding three 3G frequencies.
PLDT has also blamed rival Globe Telecom for the delays. According to reports, Globe called on the NTC in late April to issue stronger antitrust policies and asked for spectrum frequencies to be reassigned so that Globe can better compete with the merged entity.
But in the notice published on 19 August, PLDT added: “We maintain our position that the transaction would benefit the consuming public and support the ‘broadcasting the nation’ initiative of the government and, thus, remain hopeful that the NTC approval will be forthcoming.”
