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.