Rep. Teddy Casino made a bold charge against NTC Commissioners that they may be under the payroll of telcos, citing that the Commission has not made any strong regulatory powers over the telcos for the longest time.
Casino also referred to the on-going process where PLDT is finalizing its acquisition of Digitel, making the over-all market share between Smart and Sun Cellular over 70%.
Of course, this is just merely allegations and the good congressman does not have any solid proof to back his claims. Still, these allegations will surely get a lot of support from consumers.
NTC has been running public consultations/hearings since May regarding the PLDT-Digitel deal.
Back in March, PLDT announced it has agreed to buy majority of Digitel (which includes Sun Cellular) in a share-swap deal. We asked people if they think the Smart+Sun merger, of sorts, will improve the carrier’s service and offerings (see story here).
Source: Newsbytes.ph
By having the biggest share, Smart would be able to implement and dictate what standard and technology should be used in the mobile world. Which I think is great considering NFC in mobile phones is starting to emerge in other countries. Unlike with what Globe did with it that was quite limited to MRT and LRT transactions, and it was quite pricey.