NAGPAHAYAG si Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III kamakailan na mahina ang panukalang proseso at para sa pagpili ng pangatlong major telecommunications player at hindi nakasisiguro na ang bagong pasok na telco ay may kakayanan na makipagkompetensiya sa mga higanteng PLDT at Globe.
“I’ve expressed my concerns on the proposed process as I find the pre-qualification criteria as being weak, and I think that scoring should not be based on ‘commitments’,” lahad ni Dominguez.
“You know, the beauty contest in the past resulted in frequency hoarding and those companies failed to improve service. They just made money by flipping assets government owns. I don’t want that to happen again,” dagdag pa ng Finance chief.
Pinatutungkulan ng Finance chief ang “Committed Level of Service” bilang pinaka-main criteria sa pagpili ng ikatlong telco player.
Nag-isyu ang Department of Information and Communications Techonolgy ng Memorandum Order No. 002, may petsang Abril 13, na nagbabago ng Memorandum Order No. 001 o ang “Policy Guidelines for the Entry of a New Major Player in the Public Telecommunications Market.”
“The applicant with the highest committed level of service and/or highest committed investment for the last five years shall be the new major player. This is without prejudice to the formulation of a new selection criteria or modification thereof by the NTC, in consultation with the DICT and the Oversight Committee created under Administrative Order No.11,” ayon sa order.
Sinabi ni Dominguez na ang criteria ay hindi nakapasa para mag-set ng parameters na magsisiguro na ang pangatlong telco ay may kapasidad, maging pinansiyal at teknikal, para makipagkompetensiya ng matagalan.
Naunang sinabi ni DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. na ang oversight committee para gumawa ng pasilidad sa pagpasok ng pangatlong telco ay kinokonsidera na magsagawa ng mataas na minimum paid-up capital para sa mga kompanya na naghahangad na maging ikatlong telco player.
Noong Abril 6, lumikha si President Duterte ng oversight committee para mag-facilitate ng pagpasok ng ikatlong telco at mag-assist sa NTC sa paggawa ng pormulasyon ng in Terms of Reference (TOR) para sa pagpili at assignment ng radio frequencies ng pangatlong third telco player.
Binubuo ang komite ng mga kinatawan ng DICT, the Department of Finance, the Office of the Executive Secretary, at the National Security Adviser. And kinatawan ng DICT ang magiging chairperson, kasama ang kinatawan ng DOF bilang vice-chairperson.
Sinabi ni Dominguez, na sa parte ng DOF, kasalukuyan nilang pinag-aaralan ang pre-qualification criteria, tulad ng financial at previous telco experience, na puwedeng i-apply para mabago ang pagpili ng ikatlong player.
“Government should not forget what the task at hand is. The mandate of the President was not only to bring in a third telco player, but more importantly, to ensure that its entry will result to rendering of better services to the consumers at the lowest possible cost,” dagdag pa ng Finance chief.
Kung kailan maaaprubahan ang sunod na criteria, sinabi niya na “we hope to be done with this task by Friday next week.”
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