"[Government] approval is beyond our hands. There will be a hearing next week and after that ... we’ll have to see [if we can finalize the agreement by June 30]," PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan yesterday said after securing stockholder approval of the transaction.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will hold a second hearing on June 21, commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba said, as part of its review of the P69.2-billion deal that was announced last March.
A "jurisdictional hearing" was held on May 23 where Globe Telecom, Inc., Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. and Sealand Telecommunications Co. Inc., and consumer advocacy groups TXTPower.Org Inc. and Txtm8 all filed position papers.
PLDT’s planned acquisition of JG Summit Holdings, Inc.’s 51.55% stake in Digitel has come under scrutiny as it will give the already dominant telco some 70% of the mobile market.
Second-ranked Globe Telecom, which currently holds about 30% of the mobile market, has alleged that the deal would pave the way for a return of a PLDT monopoly.
Mr. Pangilinan defended the deal, telling stockholders: "We need to change the game ... market consolidation is happening around the globe".
"The combined networks will bring faster roll-out of technologies ... and make mobile broadband more widely available," he added.
Mr. Pangilinan also said the firm was "encouraging" the government to consider the welfare of consumers, not its rivals, in deciding whether or not to approve the deal.
Legislators have also weighed in and last week a Senate panel said there was no need for congressional approval.
Republic Act 7678, which granted Digitel a franchise to operate, states that Congress needs to agree to any sale, lease or transfer of the franchise.
Shares of PLDT closed P6 higher at P2,304 per yesterday. Globe was up P9 at P879 per share while Digitel was unchanged at P1.54 per share.
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