Lopezes open to selling telco biz

MANILA, Philippines - The Lopez group remains open to selling its telecommunications business under Bayan Telecommunications Inc., according to a top company official.

On the sidelines of Rockwell Land Corp.’s annual stockholders’ meeting last week, Lopez Holdings Corp. president Salvador G. Tirona said they welcome any offers to acquire BayanTel, which has been under rehabilitation since July 2004.

Tirona, however, said the group is not in talks with anyone right now and that its main focus is to further pare down BayanTel’s debt, which reached $325 million.

BayanTel has reportedly settled a total of P7.27 billion in total debt since it filed for corporate rehabilitation. It incurred huge losses because 92 percent of its obligations are dollar-denominated.

It settles a portion of its obligations every semester and pays interest on a quarterly basis.

In March last year, BayanTel sold its wireless assets to Multi-Media Telephony Inc. (MTI), a company that offers local exchange carrier, cellular mobile telephone and broadband services nationwide.

At present, BayanTel remains a non-core asset of the Lopez group, which holds an 85 percent interest in the telco.

Lopez Holdings is the listed flagship firm of the Lopez family whose core businesses include power generation and broadcasting.

BayanTel operates a fixed-line and data business in Metro Manila and in some of the country’s provinces. It also has a 92 percent control of the National Digital Transmission Network (NDTN), second largest only to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)’s network backbone.

Built in 1999, the NDTN consists of submarine, land cables, and microwaves worth about $70 million. It is currently being managed by the Telecoms Infrastructure Corp. of the Philippines (TelicPhil).

BayanTel previously received buyout offers from PLDT and Globe Telecom Inc. but talks fizzled out due to its huge debt.