Under President Benigno Aquino III’s Executive Order 45, the DOJ under Secretary Leila de Lima was designated as the country’s competition authority. The Office of Competition will be tasked to prevent monopolies, cartels and protect consumers from abusive business practices.
“We request our good Secretary to look into the looming approval by the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) of PLDT-Smart’s acquisition of franchise in telecommunication airwaves being held by Sun Cellular. The NTC is set to hold a hearing in the coming week and we are worried it will approve the larger franchise for this newly merged company, despite growing opposition to it," Samahan Laban sa Monopolyo (SlaM) Convenor Jess Sandow said in a statement released Monday.
SlaM hopes that with EO 45, the economy “[would be guarded] against the onslaught of monopolistic greed among businessmen."
The group is also spearheading an online campaign to urge Congress to investigate the deal. “We cannot afford to have a no-choice or locked in on a limited set of service products… We request government regulators and Congress to really investigate the deal and its effects to us," part of the online petition read.
In March, PLDT announced it would buy a 51.5-percent stake in DTPI for P69.2 billion by way of a mandatory offering of PLDT shares under JS Summit Holdings Inc., DTPI’s parent company.
Globe Telecom Inc. in late April called on the government to intervene in the planned purchase, saying that it would mean the return of a monopoly in the telecommunications industry. Malacañang said that the issue was “still being discussed in larger groups."
Globe also asked government to “level the playing field" by considering the redistribution of communication frequencies evenly among telecommunication companies.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile meanwhile, said during a senate inquiry of the deal that Globe was only sour graping, adding that “this is a situation when a loser is complaining against the winner."
Should the PDLT-DTPI deal push through, Smart and Sun would control 70 percent of the mobile telecommunications industry, leaving only 30 percent to Globe, according to Globe and consumer groups TXTPower and TXTMate.
