Lawmaker hails tieup of PLDT, EchoStar for satellite TV in RP

A senior member of Congress welcomed yesterday US-based EchoStar Communications Corp.’s move to explore a possible new Philippine joint venture that would give Filipinos access to one of the world’s most advanced direct broadcast digital satellite television services.

Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said Echo-Star’s likely direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV joint enterprise with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) "will provide Filipino consumers with a fully competitive alternative to cable TV and limited DTH TV services."

"Nothing works more efficiently in developing markets than free and fair competition. Filipinos could possibly just be waiting for competition to drive down DTH satellite TV subscription rates," added Gullas.

He also said a broader alliance between EchoStar and the country‚s largest telecommunications company augurs well for the booming Philippine call center industry.

"A new direct investment by EchoStar in the country could conceivably translate to more call center jobs for Filipinos. EchoStar could end up outsourcing all of its customer care requirements to us here in the Philippines," the Cebu lawmaker added.

EchoStar and PLDT already have an existing partnership in ePLDT Parlance Inc., a 1,250-seat local call center that handles 20 percent of the customer service calls of EchoStar subscribers in the US.

EchoStar was earlier reported to be working out a possible local joint venture with PLDT that would offer DTH satellite TV services.

EchoStar is the second largest provider of direct broadcast satellite and other DTH satellite services in the US, after DirecTV Group Inc.

EchoStar has 11.3 million subscribers in the US. The company’s DISH Network subscription TV services have the ability to provide over 500 channels of digital video and audio programming services.

EchoStar’s chief rival, DirecTV, has 14.5 million subscribers in the US and in Latin America. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. controls DirecTV.