A Small Truce in the Intranational Telecommunications War

PLDT and Globe Telecommunications finally completed an agreement which will allow Globe subscribers in Pampanga to calls PLDT subscribers without having to pay long distance charges. The deal, which was seven years in the making, is now the second such agreement between PLDT and Globe after the first of these agreements took place in Davao City last year.

“We are very happy to have fully completed and activated our local interconnection service with PLDT after negotiating several years,” said Froilan Castelo, head of Globe Corporate and Legal Services. “Our efforts have finally paid off in ensuring the delivery of faster and more affordable services for the people of Pampanga,” Castelo continued.

Before the deal was signed, Pampanga residents (like Davao City) had to pay long distance charges of 5-6 pesos per minute from PLDT to Globe and vice-versa. According to PLDT and Globe, such a deal will not only help Pampanga residents but it will also lessen the expenses for businesses as well as boosting economic development in the province. To date, over 30 provinces and cities across the country are awaiting for full connection between PLDT and Globe.

With this new deal now in place, it may seem at least in the short-term that the intranational telecommunications war between the largest providers in the Philippines may seem to have taken a small step in the right direction. However, considering that this deal took seven years to activate, it remains unlikely that any new deals in the remaining provinces and cities will occur this year and the day when the nation’s communication providers will become full integrated seem to be nothing more than a distant wish that could be years in the making. Also, it should be noted that even though Smart is a subsidiary of PLDT, we shouldn’t expect Smart and Globe to ink any interconnection deals anytime soon since such a desire and convenience would be completely unrealistic interconnection deals anytime soon since such a desire and convenience would be completely unrealistic to the nation’s two largest mobile phone providers. Still, for the time being, it’s nice to know that at least the residents and businesses of Pampanga can join the residents of Davao City in having their communication bills a bit lighter.

via liveinthephilippines