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                    [ArticleID] => 254145
                    [Title] => RP telcos prepare for legal battle over US FCC ruling
                    [Summary] => The country’s leading telecommunications companies are preparing to take legal action against a recent order of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finding them guilty of ‘whipsawing’ when they unilaterally raised last year the termination rates they charge American carriers for calls landing in the Philippines.


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-06-16 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
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                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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                (
                    [ArticleID] => 236110
                    [Title] => US telcos to resume payments to Globe
                    [Summary] => The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) international bureau is expected to lift soon its order preventing American carriers from making any payments to local carrier Globe Telecom. 


The bureau has so far lifted its order in the case of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Smart Communications Inc., Bayan Telecommunications, Inc. (BayanTel), and Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel). 


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-01-23 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
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                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 233993
                    [Title] => Smart threatens to sever ties with MCI/WorldCom
                    [Summary] => Leading wireless company Smart Communications has threatened to sever relations with American carrier MCI/WorldCom after the latter refused to pay the former more than $1 million in unpaid settlement rates.
                    [DatePublished] => 2004-01-05 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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                (
                    [ArticleID] => 222862
                    [Title] => Smart, AT&T agree to end dispute
                    [Summary] => Wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. and American carrier AT&T have signed an interim agreement that  paves the way for the resumption of services between the two telecommunications companies.


Under the interim agreement, Smart will restore bilateral facilities while AT&T will settle all outstanding amounts and termination fees to Smart, once the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifts the stop-payment order against Smart.  


AT&T will also be granted direct inbound Smart calls and access from the US to Smart’s network.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-10-03 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
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                    [URL] => 
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                (
                    [ArticleID] => 222035
                    [Title] => Local telcos in talks with AT&T, MCI on call rates
                    [Summary] => Telecommunications leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is currently in talks with major US carriers AT&T and MCI-WorldCom on the possibility of agreeing on the rates that will be charged the two giant telecom firms for calls from the United States to the Philippines.


A top PLDT official told The STAR that officials of MCI were in the country  the other day as part of the continuing negotiations on termination rates.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-09-26 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [5] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 202751
                    [Title] => PLDT, Globe ask US FCC to review ruling
                    [Summary] => Two of the country’s biggest telecommunications companies have asked the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) en banc to review a ruling issued by an FCC bureau which, among other things, prohibited American telcos from making any payments for services already rendered by these two Philippine firms, The STAR learned.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-15 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 201217
                    [Title] => Who’s out?  The word is finally out
                    [Summary] => Several old guards at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) were forced to retire after being offered very attractive packages. Among them are PLDT top officials Antonio Samson and Ignatius Yenko.  


According to sources, Samson is retiring from PLDT but will retain his position as president of Mediaquest, a PLDT subsidiary. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-02 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134315
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 200367
                    [Title] => PLDT, AT&T talks end in stalemate
                    [Summary] => The first round of talks between US carrier AT&T and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) initiated by the former to find a solution to the current impasse regarding the increased charges imposed by Philippine carriers on foreign calls ended in a stalemate as both parties refused to give in to each other’s demands. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-26 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [8] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 198855
                    [Title] => US gov’t bullying small RP telcos
                    [Summary] => PLDT, Smart, Globe, Digitel or Bayantel may be big by RP standards. But they’re just as small as dozens of state-wide telephone companies in the US, with a few million dollars capital each. Only two US telcos can be called giants: AT&T and WorldCom. AT&T may no longer be the "Mother Bell" of the ’60s, having been forced by antitrust suits to let go of noncore operating units. Still, it’s a multibillion-dollar colossus whose shadow covers wide swaths of the East and West Coasts.
                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-14 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134276
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805283
                    [AuthorName] => Jarius Bondoc
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [9] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 198732
                    [Title] => RP telcos gird for tough legal fight over call rates
                    [Summary] => Philippine telecommunications carriers, through their local and foreign-based lawyers, are preparing for a tough legal battle ahead as they prepare to question the legality of the decision rendered by the international bureau of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the recent call termination rate increase of local telcos was unjust and baseless.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-13 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
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                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
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                )

        )

)

DONALD ABELSON

Array
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                    [ArticleID] => 254145
                    [Title] => RP telcos prepare for legal battle over US FCC ruling
                    [Summary] => The country’s leading telecommunications companies are preparing to take legal action against a recent order of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finding them guilty of ‘whipsawing’ when they unilaterally raised last year the termination rates they charge American carriers for calls landing in the Philippines.


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-06-16 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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                    [ArticleID] => 236110
                    [Title] => US telcos to resume payments to Globe
                    [Summary] => The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) international bureau is expected to lift soon its order preventing American carriers from making any payments to local carrier Globe Telecom. 


The bureau has so far lifted its order in the case of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Smart Communications Inc., Bayan Telecommunications, Inc. (BayanTel), and Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel). 


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-01-23 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 233993
                    [Title] => Smart threatens to sever ties with MCI/WorldCom
                    [Summary] => Leading wireless company Smart Communications has threatened to sever relations with American carrier MCI/WorldCom after the latter refused to pay the former more than $1 million in unpaid settlement rates.
                    [DatePublished] => 2004-01-05 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 222862
                    [Title] => Smart, AT&T agree to end dispute
                    [Summary] => Wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. and American carrier AT&T have signed an interim agreement that  paves the way for the resumption of services between the two telecommunications companies.


Under the interim agreement, Smart will restore bilateral facilities while AT&T will settle all outstanding amounts and termination fees to Smart, once the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifts the stop-payment order against Smart.  


AT&T will also be granted direct inbound Smart calls and access from the US to Smart’s network.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-10-03 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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                (
                    [ArticleID] => 222035
                    [Title] => Local telcos in talks with AT&T, MCI on call rates
                    [Summary] => Telecommunications leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is currently in talks with major US carriers AT&T and MCI-WorldCom on the possibility of agreeing on the rates that will be charged the two giant telecom firms for calls from the United States to the Philippines.


A top PLDT official told The STAR that officials of MCI were in the country  the other day as part of the continuing negotiations on termination rates.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-09-26 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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                (
                    [ArticleID] => 202751
                    [Title] => PLDT, Globe ask US FCC to review ruling
                    [Summary] => Two of the country’s biggest telecommunications companies have asked the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) en banc to review a ruling issued by an FCC bureau which, among other things, prohibited American telcos from making any payments for services already rendered by these two Philippine firms, The STAR learned.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-15 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 201217
                    [Title] => Who’s out?  The word is finally out
                    [Summary] => Several old guards at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) were forced to retire after being offered very attractive packages. Among them are PLDT top officials Antonio Samson and Ignatius Yenko.  


According to sources, Samson is retiring from PLDT but will retain his position as president of Mediaquest, a PLDT subsidiary. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-02 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134315
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 200367
                    [Title] => PLDT, AT&T talks end in stalemate
                    [Summary] => The first round of talks between US carrier AT&T and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) initiated by the former to find a solution to the current impasse regarding the increased charges imposed by Philippine carriers on foreign calls ended in a stalemate as both parties refused to give in to each other’s demands. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-26 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [8] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 198855
                    [Title] => US gov’t bullying small RP telcos
                    [Summary] => PLDT, Smart, Globe, Digitel or Bayantel may be big by RP standards. But they’re just as small as dozens of state-wide telephone companies in the US, with a few million dollars capital each. Only two US telcos can be called giants: AT&T and WorldCom. AT&T may no longer be the "Mother Bell" of the ’60s, having been forced by antitrust suits to let go of noncore operating units. Still, it’s a multibillion-dollar colossus whose shadow covers wide swaths of the East and West Coasts.
                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-14 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134276
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805283
                    [AuthorName] => Jarius Bondoc
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [9] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 198732
                    [Title] => RP telcos gird for tough legal fight over call rates
                    [Summary] => Philippine telecommunications carriers, through their local and foreign-based lawyers, are preparing for a tough legal battle ahead as they prepare to question the legality of the decision rendered by the international bureau of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the recent call termination rate increase of local telcos was unjust and baseless.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-03-13 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Business
                    [SectionUrl] => business
                    [URL] => 
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        )

)

abtest