The Philippine Competition Act is finally done at the bicam level which means it’s up for signing by the President to be enacted as a law.
This is the longest running bill in Congress and the current landmark bill passed by the 16th Congress. It’s been around since the 8th Congress (1990s).
The Senate version, Senate Bill 2282, was sponsored by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and unanimously approved (13-0) last December 2014.
The Philippine Competition Act will make sure that no business entity would have an unfair advantage over its competitors so that consumers would enjoy the benefits of a free market.
According to the office of Sen. Bam Aquino, the Philippine Competition Act will open the telco industry to new and/or international players among many other industries which has few big players.
In the case of our Internet industry, it will hopefully help in the entry of new players, and will then help us in having more choices, higher quality and cheaper prices for our Internet connection.
The law will penalize unfair practices such as:
* Directly or indirectly fixing, controlling or maintaining of prices
* Setting, limiting, or controlling the production of goods and services to the detriment of consumers
Many other industries will be affected, among them the SM Malls which have been doing a lot of anti-competitive practices (pushing Bonus brands over competitors).
Official statement of the Office of Sen. Bam Aquino is posted here.
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
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denise says:
Kahit naman magkaroon ng iba pang telcos, inaacquire din ng dalawang telco giants dahil natatabunan din, kaya wala ding silbi kahit magkaroon pa ng mga bago. Look at what happened to Islacom and Red Mobile. Ang ABSCBN mobile is a mobile virtual network operator of Globe kaya same thing.
robzzzsy says:
What about tuition fees on Schools and Universities, covered din ba?
kannuchi says:
Pakibasa po title ng article, pati na yung link sa official statement of the senator.
Delacruz Juan says:
Wow! an ingenius political brochure, politicians are evolving
butch says:
tagal na ng anti-trust law sa amerika dito sa pilipinas ngayon pa lang magkakaroon ng ganitong batas.
True Stories says:
Hay nako nagpapauto nnmn kau sa kalokohan ng gov’t natin, future effect neto ay ” imomonopolize nila ang tech price ibig sabihin ay hawak ng govt ang price control, then magkakaron ng lagayan at dahil jan maapprove mabilis ang pag taas ng presyo sa lagayan at busog nnmn ang bulsa ni politicians. tpos ang sambayanan ay wala nang karapatang makapamili ng mababang presyo dahil regulated na ito ng bulok na sistema, by force wala tyong magagawa dahil gobyerna kuno na ang nag asikaso at nasa batas na, hndi kana pwedeng makapagreklamo dahil nga ito raw ay batas na. You can call me nega, but what i’ve learn in the Philippines is always expect the worst but still hope for the best, siguro yung best ay pano mo nlng buhayin ang saliri mo in your own way. IXY
FuckYou PLDT says:
Babay Local Corrupt Telcos… And FUCK YOU SMART, PLDT and GLOBE!!!
Raymund says:
Hello Chinese businesses! Patay na naman tayo neto!
EarlZ says:
” Setting, limiting, or controlling the production of goods and services to the detriment of consumers”
Does this mean illegal na mag data cap once this becomes a law?
Well illegal naman yung ginagawa nila gayun offering ‘unlimited’ pero may technicalities.
Darkaiz says:
kung sakaling i share ng globe at pldt ang pipe nila for net sa bagong provider sabotage lng gagawin nung mga un so wala paring kwenta and if they dont ang nakikita ko lng na pwding kumalaban sa kanila is ung mga Satellite internet provider
like this http://www.groundcontrol.com/How_Does_Satellite_Internet_Work.htm
benny says:
PLEASE PASS THE BILL ON THE REGISTRATION OF SIM CARDS SO THAT PRANK CALLERS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT CAN BE TRACED.
denise says:
that is where the call block app is very useful.
thursday says:
HOPE.
still, we’re not sure if this law will be implemented thoroughly. because under (sec. 5 Philippine Fair Competition Commission, “The Commission shall be composed of a Chairperson and four (4) Associate Commissioners.” It doesn’t matter kung mapipirmahan ito ng ni PNoy. Yung mga taong manunungkulan dito ang kailangang bigyan ng pansin. To make it short “sino sila?, mapapagkatiwalaan ba o isang suhol ka lng? bago ba ito sa systema ng ating gobyerno o daang matuwid na?
just another simple point of view.
jimbo222 says:
ok to.. para mawala monopoly
Shobz says:
And we can also crowdfund a new telco na may cheaper but quality service to help them rise!!! Shame to Smart/Pldt and Gl0be!!
JunJun says:
NOW THE END IS COMING FOR SMART AND GLOBE! BWAHAHAHAHA… nanginging na siguro tuhod nila! cant wait for this!
Mr A says:
This bill isn’t enough for a new telco. Raising a new one requires a significant amount of capital. They also need to amend the ownership clause for foreign companies, or force telcos to open for Mobile virtual network operator agreements, with tight oversight from the NTC to make sure they (MVNO companies) are not being screwed over in favor of the parent network.
Same with ISP. I just don’t know the equivalent term for them.
ww says:
This is useless. Unfair market competition is a light-year far second cause of shitty services and products in our country. They should have broken the monopolies in telecom, jail the businessmen controlling the supposed to be free market.
Easy E says:
Sana binasa muna at inintindi ang bill bago nag react
Alligator Kap says:
There should be a special clause for the telcom industry. Better internet service to price ratio Is the only way to go. Can’t wait for international players to offer their services here. So we can see how incompetent globe and smart really are. Its a shame actually. Feels like these two have been hijacking us in broad daylight since nokia 5110.
Leonard says:
In my opinion, there’s a hole in this bill, what if “company X” has innovated something that will definitely leave “company Y” far behind the competition? Is that already an unfair advantage? If this is the case, this bill will also stop companies from innovating further to lead in the competition. I’m not just talking about telecommunications here but other businesses as well. Not that I don’t like a third player for telecommunication, I’m actually waiting for this, it is good to have many choices but I’m just saying my opinion about what I think is the negative effect of this bill. I hope senators have thought this through.
Angelo says:
Innovations are protected as intellectual property. Fair competition does not hinder innovations. We have a government agency whose sole purpose is to protected innovations, inventions, copyrights – Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in Makati City, you can go there and file an IP registration.
'em says:
With regards to SM Bonus, if you notice in SM Hypermarket stores, lahat ng stalls sa loob noon, ang binebentang tubig ay SM Bonus Mineral Water. Walang kalayaan ang tenant and consumer mamili ng gusto nilang tubig na ibenta o bilhin. Siguro ito yung isang example na sinasabi ng writer.
archie says:
I agree with you. Though maganda ito sa pandinig ng ordinaryong tao, taliwas ito sa concept of capitalism. Disadvantage ito sa mga may bagong release na products and technology. Mas madali rin para sa big telcos na patayin ang bagong players dahil pwede nilang sabihin na taking advantage ang bagong players dahil sa mas murang rates. I’m sure na-explain na ng lobbyists sa mga politicians ang pwede nilang gawin sa mga papasok na bagong players kaya inapprove ito. This is more like a communist’s policy rather than making companies strive to be competitive. Hindi naman laging presyo ang basis, nasa quality din ng service o product ang basehan kung justified ang costing.
I also disagree with what the writer say about SM’s bonus brands. How can it be anti-competitive when your are offering more options for the consumers? More products, more freedom for buyers, more capitalism, more economic diversity.
leypascua says:
This will not cause the telco industry to open up as quick as legislators see it to be. The only way to get more providers into the game is to force legacy operators (PLDT and Globe) to share their pipes with other ISPs as it is being done in Europe. This will make it more attractive for new players to come in as they don’t have to dig for new pipes just to get their copper (or fiber) to households.
Before DSL, we had a lot of prepaid ISPs that aren’t owned by legacy telcos. PLDT and Globe basically killed all competition by introducing proprietary DSL. The government has to stop this practice and force them to open up their pipes for a reasonable fee.
Yuki says:
Correct, as well as, Paulcy. There are plenty of ways to corner the competitor without going against the law or this “upcoming” law.
As was mentioned, the duopoly is controlling all the pipes in and out of the country. They also already have the key spots either reserved exclusively or installed with powerful towers. A competitor can’t just install their own anywhere they want.
What we need for example is a law that will make all towers open for sharing, just like how it is in other countries. This way, the new competitors don’t have to worry about where to place their towers, the strategy, etc.
This upcoming law is too general for the benefit of opening the telco industry and Internet industry to new players. We need a law specifically targeting the duopoly’s practices of cornering the competitors.
Paulcy says:
I doubt this will provide any help when PLDT is doing unfair business by going into exclusive contracts with subdivisions years before they install the actual equipment. Globe is fast in our area with a more rigid and stable network compare to Smart and PLDT combined (in fairness, Smart connections without PLDT interventions are good in our area). Problem is, PLDT made exclusive contacts with the developers to hinder Globe to offer connections. They have effectively locked villages under their exclusive contracts.
miko says:
tapos nyan ay bibilhin na naman ni smart alias pldt ang small successful new comers tulad nung nangyari kay sun cellular! sounds familiar ba? lol!
miko says:
it’s not nega.. it’s business! duh! lol!
Mel102 says:
If you can’t beat them, buy them.
wownega says:
wow ang nega mo koia a.
Easy E says:
Sana nay Google effort sa bansa natin. Sana.
P. says:
You can always start a petition at change.org or signon.org (downloading sigs in the latter is free) and hope it gets Google’s attention.
bern says:
I have a presumption that telcos had been working very hard to veto everything here that committee has put forward to for fair competition act.
A lot of higher officials could have been bribed for just to head off this law into signing , in my opinion at least.
They know that younger generation can no longer live up with slow internet connection and everybody is addicted to internet, to say the least, so therefore they have taken advantage the situation by providing subscription base plans which eventually capped which leave users with no choice but to pay more.
Mon says:
I agree, some kind of lobbying might have been the cause of the delay, but since the philippines has been constantly at the bottom of internet speed and being the one the most expensive, there’s no longer an excuse to delay the bill any longer
jjBoy says:
IF TRUE, I CANT WAIT FOR THIS TO TAKE EFFECT. THIS IS A RELIEF! Globe and Smart being a duopoly are not careful with their consumers anymore. They have been scheming and cheating their way to profits at our expense but we consumers are helpless to do anything about it…THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING! I hope this law is not a fraud.