Franchise renewal ng DITO ipinagpaliban ng Senate panel
Ipinagpaliban ng Senate Committee on Public Services ang pag-renew sa prangkisa ng DITO Telecommunity, at sinabing kailangan munang patunayan ng third telco na maihahatid nito ang ipinangakong mga serbisyo.
Nauna nang nangako ang DITO – isang consortium sa pagitan ng Udenna Corp ni Davao tycoon Dennis Uy at ng China Telecom – na magkakaloob ng hindi bababa sa 27 mbps internet speed sa 37 percent o 7,425 barangays sa unang taon ng serbisyo nito.
Ang coverage ay inaasahang tataas sa 50 percent sa ikalawang taon, 70 percent sa ikatlo, at 84 hanggang 90 percent sa ika-4 na taon nito sa operasyon.
“When DITO applied for this franchise, they should have had the forecast of what they were going to spend,” pahayag ni Senate Committee on Public Services chair Grace Poe sa franchise hearing ng telco.
“They should be able to provide the initial commitment they made if they are able to do that, then we will give them the additional 25 years,” ayon pa kay Poe.
Sinabi ni DITO Chief Administrative Office Adel Tamano na ang ‘viability’ ng DITO ay nakadepende sa kung paano tatanggapin ng publiko ang kanilang serbisyo.
“For this year and next year, we are confident we have sufficient funding. What will be truly critical… is that we have our services next year,” wika ni Tamano.
Binigyang-diin naman ni Poe na hindi sila dapat umasa na mare-renew ang kanilang prangkisa kung hindi nila kayang iproduce ang kanilang ipinangako.
“What we’re trying to prevent here is other applicants will anticipate a renewal and they are not anymore rolling out unless they get that renewal of the franchise. I don’t want a committee to be a hostage of that. We’re just here to safeguard the commitments made to the government.” aniya.
Pinuri naman ni Sen. Risa Hontiveros ang desisyon ng komite na ipagpaliban ang renewal ng prangkisa ng DITO, at sinabing kailangang pag-aralan pa ng mga mambabatas ang magiging epekto ng pagpasok ng third telco sa bansa lalo na’t pag-aari ng China ang bahagi ng kumpanya.
“It’s quite a unique franchise, a unique company… because of the national security issues that have been raised. Considering that’s a quarter of a century franchise… Ang dami pa nating ire-resolve with China here in our region,” ayon kay Hontiveros.
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