NTC must encourage competition

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
The Philippine Star

After accusing the upstart Sun Cellular of predatory pricing, it is now PLDT’s turn to be accused by small Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of uncompetitive behavior... predatory pricing. This time it is credible, if only because PLDT is the dominant player and its actions do seem to indicate a grand plan to obliterate small competitors to the ultimate disadvantage of consumers. Stopping PLDT in its tracks is a job the government, through NTC, must do.

According to press reports, PLDT raised its charges for the EIR2 lines that ISPs lease from the company in order to provide dial-up Internet access to its subscribers. PLDT also supposedly denied access to its DSL (digital subscriber line) infrastructure to the ISPs, refused to allow ISPs to lease the "last mile" to the homes of subscribers and brought down the cost of PLDT’s dial-up Internet access to P1 per hour and its broadband Internet access to P1,995 a month. read more . . .



Pacific Internet gets multiple DS3 connections

Pacific Internet Philippines Inc. the largest telco-independent Internet Communications Service Provider in the Philippines and in Asia-Pacific, recently strengthened its bandwidth capacities with its acquisition of three full DS3 Internet connections. This major infrastructure improvement can match that of the telcos and is a testament to Pacific Internet’s thrust in providing quality services to its growing number of customers.

The three DS3 Internet connections are equivalent to 135 Mbps, capable of supporting 65 E1 corporate clients or over half a million dial-up users. read more . . .

Smart survives Sun Cellular's price assault

SMART Communications Inc., a wireless subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), has reported growth of its subscriber base in 2004 despite the aggressive price assault initiated by its smaller rival Sun Cellular.

Despite this heightened competition, PLDT said Smart and Philippine Telephone Corp. (Piltel) together added over 6.2 million subscribers in 2004, bringing the PLDT Group's total subscriber base to 19.2 million. This translates to roughly 58 percent market share of the Philippine mobile phone market. read more . . .