In an unfortunate turn of events, San Miguel Corporation is selling all of its telecommunication assets to PLDT and Globe essentially crushing our hope for a third big telecommunications company in the Philippines.
San Miguel previously promised a high speed mobile internet service provider but faced several setbacks including the breakdown of negotiations with Telstra.
| San Miguel Corporation logo. Photo by Elmer B. Domingo. |
This sale includes equipment, cell sites and the coveted 700MHz band of the spectrum which can provide the promised faster and cheaper mobile internet speed since it can penetrate walls, have a wider coverage area and handle more users per tower. The estimated price is a whopping $1 billion!
According to a report, San Miguel was required to have a foreign technical partner by banks for the approval of a $2 billion loan necessary to start a new telco. This would have been used to build cell sites throughout the country.
We may not have a third telco anytime soon but both PLDT and Globe are looking to use the 700MHz band to decongest their networks. Hopefully, the two can deliver what San Miguel failed to do.
