Telecommunications giant PLDT Inc. has criticized the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Konektadong Pinoy Act, arguing that the policy gives undue advantage to foreign entrants while disadvantaging local investors.
PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the rules contradict the law’s purpose of improving internet access and affordability.
“It doesn’t seem to be that way from the way the IRR’s written,” Pangilinan told reporters on Tuesday.
Under the IRR, new industry players may use existing telecom infrastructure—such as cell towers and fiber lines—on an “open, fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” basis. Pangilinan warned that this would allow foreign companies to profit without investing in local development.
“Why should we benefit somebody coming in without putting in any new money into the country? They’re like the colonizers of old, like the Spanish and the Americans who came in here, exploited our wealth, and then left,” he said.
PLDT senior vice president Marilyn Victorio-Aquino said the firm was assessing possible legal actions.
“All options are being considered to protect the company and our subscribers,” she stated.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), led by Secretary Henry Aguda, defended the IRR, saying it aims to foster competition and lower internet costs. Aguda revealed that at least seven foreign firms have expressed interest in investing up to $1.5 billion each in the Philippine telecom sector.
Despite DICT’s claim of stakeholder consultations, PLDT chief legal counsel Joan de Venecia-Fabul said the firm’s inputs were largely disregarded during a single four-hour meeting.
Pangilinan said the company was reviewing its next steps, noting, “We have to look at what options are available to telcos. What we don’t like is to discriminate against the local telcos because we’re the Filipinos here.”