The Philippines’ telecoms ministry and regulator has finally published the formal terms of the selection process for the market’s third operator.
The final terms of reference for the beauty contest style selection process have been released by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
Compared to the most recent draft, the final terms give a heavier weight to guaranteed internet speeds and allow more flexible terms on payment of performance security bonds, the report states.
Now that the terms have been released, the NTC plans to commence the sale of bid documents for 1 million pesos ($18,450) each on October 6, and has set a bid submission deadline of November 5.
A winner will be selected based on the highest committed level of service, including population coverage and internet speed promises, over a five-year commitment period.
With the modified weighting, the most important criteria is now national population coverage, which will be weighted at 40%. The weighting for capex and opex commitments has meanwhile been decreased to 35% with the weight for minimum average broadband speed increased to 25%.
The draft terms of reference for the selection of the third telco to break the Philippines’ telecoms duopoly of Globe and PLDT were released in February.
These terms have been subject to multiple revisions, delaying the selection process. But after Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to personally intervene in the process and select a winner himself in “about 30 minutes,” the regulator responded by quickly reaching agreement on the final terms.