BellTel, Philcomsat may lose licenses over rollout scheme

Bell Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (BellTel) and Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat) are in danger of losing their licenses to other international toll and local exchange network services if they cannot put up landlines in their respective service areas within eight months.

National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chief Joseph Santiago noted yesterday that while the three-year rollout period given to the two latecomers expires in October, both companies have yet to install even a single line.

BellTel and Philcomsat, which both entered the market after other companies have almost completed their rollout obligations, are required to lay down at least 300,000 lines each.

Santiago said that under Republic Act 7925 or the Telecommunications Law, zero compliance would mean cancellation of license.

The two companies, he said, could still request for an extension of their provisional authority to operate but they would still be answerable for not meeting the deadline.

"If October comes and they haven't done anything, there's no other way but to enforce the law. Right now, we still give them the benefit of the doubt," he added.

However, Santiago said he is not very optimistic that BellTel and Philcomsat can rollout fast enough to meet the compliance schedule.

According to him, the telecom business is very capital intensive and unless the two firms have billions and billions of pesos to spend for the project, the chance of their fulfilling their commitments is very nil.

At present, BellTel, which is owned by the Ortigas-Puyat-Maramba group, has yet to find a strategic investor to pour in the much-needed capital.

Philcomsat, on the other hand, is currently concentrating on other services and has not made up its mind as to whether or not it will still install the lines.