Philippines May Liberalize Mobile Market

The Philippines Senate committee on economic affairs plans to create a bill by 2017 that aims to expand telecom regulator power and allow foreigners 100 percent ownership of telecom assets in the Philippines. With the caveat that lots of bills are introduced, only to go nowhere, the proposed legislation would give the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) broader authority to authorize new providers in the market, without the present 40-percent foreign ownership restriction.

Perhaps ironically, both PLDT and Globe, the two mobile operators who lead the industry, appear to support the proposal for liberalizing foreign ownership. That presumably indicates that leadership at both firms views the additional investment as likely to take the form of additional equity injected into their firms, as much as it could lead to more competition from facilities-based new providers.