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Help Save 3G!

This is totally ridiculous. All four 3G licenses granted to Smart, Globe, Sun Cellular and CURE is threatened to be revoked by a new bill passed in the House of Representatives. William Yu has the scoop:

“House Resolution 190 and kindred resolutions are just what we need to scare and drive away investors. House Resolution 190 is a prescription for disaster, just what the Philippines needs like a bullet hole in the head,” Globe declared in its position paper.

Aside from 190, two other resolutions on the awarding process of 3G franchises have been filed in Congress.

There was House Resolution 1108 filed by Rep. Danilo E. Suarez which urged the NTC to nullify contracts awarded to 3G networks and instead conduct an open bidding.

A second proposal, HR 01105, was filed by Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano. In it, he called for an investigation on the losses the government might have incurred through the 3G license awarding process.

“If an auction had pushed through, supposing already that applicants were willing to bet on an already exorbitant and unrealistic tripling of the minimum bid at P1.2 million for each band, then total proceeds could only run to P6.5 billion. Then the P15 to P25 billion windfall suggested by some members of Congress in several fora and memoranda is purely speculative and without solid substantiation,” the company said.

Congress came out with this resolution to recover P15 billion-P25 billion it says the government lost when the NTC awarded the 3G licenses instead of bidding them out.

When 3G went out and was offered to us, it was so cheap I thought we’re so lucky to have it here in the Philippines. Now, them tongressmans want to squeeze in some more milk out of it. It will practically come from the consumers’ own pockets.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

6 Responses

  1. Avatar for emer emer says:

    okay, congressmen are assholes – fine. the point is wholeheartedly conceded. but lets not sink to ad hominem. just because they’re assholes does not mean the idea has no merit.

    i mean, the spectrum belongs to the people, and the ntc may not have had the right to hand it over without bidding. true, the billions that the congressmen are waiting for are exagerrated, but a bidding process could drive up the spectrum prices beyond the basement levels with which they were acquired.

    i think the big cellcos are rolling out 3g at a loss. that’s why it seems so unfair to burden these poor well-meaning people with a bidding process. but think farther down the road, when they’re raking in hundreds of millions (the way they do with 2g) – wouldn’t we feel stupid not asking them for more for that slot in the 3g spectrum?

  2. Avatar for Mike Abundo Mike Abundo says:

    pinoy-as**ole: Actually, they spotted us running past them, and now they’re gonna screw us from behind.

  3. Avatar for pinoy-as**ole pinoy-as**ole says:

    ano? harap-harapan na naman nila tayong gagagohin!? nakakasawa… pwe!

  4. Avatar for Mike Abundo Mike Abundo says:

    Even when it comes to collecting bribes, they’re late for the party.

  5. Avatar for hip2b2 hip2b2 says:

    Either way we pay. No other way to look at this situation. The power of lobbying!

  6. Avatar for estan estan says:

    add to that the losers in the bidding process who cried foul when they didn’t bag the limited spectrum cozying up with the congressmen for help.

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