China Telecom is the Philippines’ third telco player

China Telecom has been chosen to enter the Philippine telecommunications landscape as the third player to Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told GMA News.

In the said interview for GMA News’ DZBB radio news arm, Andanar mentioned that this information was relayed by Acting Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Eliseo Rio during the last Cabinet meeting.

“‘Yung huling Cabinet meeting which was ‘yung last week lang, ay ni-report ni Acting Secretary… na nakapili na ang Chinese government ng company sa China na mag-iinvest sa telco dito sa bansa natin. Ito ay ang kompanyang China Telecom. Ang China Telecom ay ang pinakamalaking telecommunications company sa China. Marami kasi ‘yun, maraming telecommunications company ‘yan eh,” he added.

In order for the company to enter the local landscape, they may be forced to partner with a Philippine company as mandated for public utility companies to only have 40% foreign ownership in the 1987 constitution. “Ang problema lang kasi dito sa bansa natin, if you are a foreign investor, you cannot go beyond 40 percent [ownership]. Eh papaano ‘yun, diba so siyempre kailangan maghanap ng partner dito sa Pilipinas,” Andanar said.

China Telecom boasts of a 245-million subscriber base in China as of October 2017 and is ranked 142nd in Forbes’ Global 2000 list this year.