The third telecom is now known.
A consortium between China telecommunications Corp. or China telecom and
Filipino partner Udenna Corp, and its unit Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. has
been declared the possible/provisional third telcommunications company that
will try to break the existing duopoly og PLDT and Globe Telecom.
Using the HCLos system Mislatel Consortium emerged with the highest
level of level of services or “HCLoS,”
scoring 456.80 points out of the maximum 500 points.
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| (photo credit to owner) |
HCLos system was used by telco regulators to determine the winning
bidder based on population coverage, broadband speed and spending pledges over
five years.
“[T]he final bid rating of participant Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co.
Inc. (Mislatel) with Udenna Corp., Chelsea, and [China Telecom]… is 456.80
points, duly signed by their authorized representative. For having the highest
committed level of service … the selection committee hereby declares [the
consortium] as the provisional NMP (new major player), subject to document
verification phase,” said Ms. Ella Lopez, NMP selection committee chairman.
Udenna Corporation is the holding firm led by the family of businessman
Dennis Uy of Phoenix Petroleum, lauded the NTC for conducting the bid process
as “fair and transparent.”
There were only 3 bidders, among the the 3 only Udenna and China Telecom
passed the detailed evaluation as set by the NTC.
Chavit & PT&T lose
The Chavit Singson backed Sear Telecom Consortium, led by TierOne
Communications and LCS Group of Companies, and Philippine Telegraph and Telephone
Corp. (PT&T) failed to advance to the next level of the strict bidding
process.
Sear telecom lacked the P700 million participation security requirement
, while PT&T was not able to comply with the certification of proving 10
years of technical experience on a national level.
PT&T who has been operating in the Philippine market for 56 years was questioning the NTC for not
taking note that it has not issued any certification of existence for ten years
to PT&T.
“We complied on the P10 billion paid-up capital, P700-million
participation security, all the audited financial statements are in place … All
the requirements are there except the certification from the NTC, imagine that.
Why is that the case? If they had given us the certification, we would have
been able to comply 100 percent,” said PT&T President and Chief
Executive Officer James Velasquez.
NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios told reporters that
lossin bidders has three days to file their respective motion for
reconsideration. The selection committee has 3 days from receipt to resolve the
said motion.
Both losing bidders may file a protest, but they have to pay P10M
“Once everything is resolved, then the [China Telecom and Udenna] group
would be declared as the NMP. They have 90 days to submit their detailed rollout,”
Cabarios said.
Possible security concerns
Senator Grace Poe has raised
security concerns since there is a foreign firm that has participated in
the bidding and this fact should not be “sidestepped.”
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines and other intelligence agencies
should weigh in on the qualifications [of the winning bidder],” said Senator Poe.
A paper recently published by US Naval War College and Tel Aviv
University in Israel has accused China Telecom of “infiltrating
western internet networks” since 2015.
The study, titled “China’s Maxim — Leave No Access Point Unexploited:
The Hidden Story of China Telecom’s BGP Hijacking,” authored by Chris Demchak
and Yuval Shavitt, accused the Chinese telco player of using border gateway
protocols (BGPs) to carry out “data intrusions.”
“China Telecom has already relatively and seamlessly hijacked the
domestic US and cross-US traffic and redirected it to China [for] over days,
weeks, and months,” the study claimed. “The prevalence of and demonstrated ease
with which one can simply redirect and copy data by controlling key transit
nodes buried in a nation’s infrastructure requires an urgent policy response.”
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Report from Manila Times
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