The Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission will give PLDT and Globe one year to improve broadband access and internet speeds if they wish to retain the spectrum they will be acquiring from San Miguel Corporation (SMC).
The regulator has granted conditional approval for Globe and PLDT’s Smart to use the spectrum currently assigned to SMC subsidiary Bell Telecommunications.
Globe and PLDT plan to acquire the spectrum as part of the planned $1.48 billion deal to acquire San Miguel’s telecoms assets announced late last month.
The conditions involve improving internet access speeds within a year,a nd submitting quarterly progress reports covering the operators’ efforts on this front.
The two operators have also been instructed to submit within the next 60 days a rollout plan involving coverign at least 90% of the cities and municipalities in the nation within the next three years.
In addition, PLDT and Globe will have to pay spectrum usage fees and related charges and allow the regulator access to base stations for monitoring purposes.
The joint acquisition will give PLDT and Globe access to the prized 700-MHz spectrum band, and also covers frequencies ranging up to 2600-MHz.
