Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has again announced to the public that he wanted a China-based telecommunication company to open up in the Philippines with more than 50 million subscribers as a potential market.
Duterte earlier made this offer to China during his meeting with China Premier Li Keqiang in their recent meeting in Manila.
Duterte called on China to be the third telecommunications operator in the Philippines. There are only two major telco operations in the Philippines, PLDT and Globe Telecom but Duterte has not named the China telecommunication company that is interested to invest in the Philippines.
Duterte's offer came when internet users raise series of complaints on the sporadic slow signal offered by local telecommunication companies. The Philippines is one of the region's slowest internet signals in Asia but is among one of the leading BPO service providers in the world, second to India.
Jopet Araneta, a freelance web developer, claimed that the low internet signal has been affecting his job as a developer.
There is also a growing online industry in the Philippines where off-shore companies are recruiting Filipinos to design their website and write articles for them but the slow internet signal has been affecting the deliverables of online-workers.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque welcomed this development, saying that China telecommunication companies are the biggest in the world.
If plans would push through, China will be given the privilege to operate the third telecommunication carrier in the country, subject to the provisions of the constitution. With the entry of the China Telco, it will compete with local telecommunication giants PLDT and Globe Telecom.
The Philippines opened its telecommunications industry in China as a result of Philippine-China growing political relations. Upon winning the Philippine presidency, Duterte announced that he is aligning his political ideology with China.
