The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) found reasonable grounds to open a preliminary inquiry into the complaints filed by Dito Telecommunity against duopoly Globe Telecom and Smart Communications.
In a statement, the anti-trust body said that the PCC Enforcement Office (CEO) will look into the allegations in the complaints for possible violations of Section 15 of the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) pertaining to abuse of dominance.
According to PCC, the CEO will also study whether other violations of the PCA pertaining to anti-competitive agreements have been committed.
As it proceeds with the investigation, the PCC will coordinate and consult with the National Telecommunications Commission and other relevant authorities for regulatory and technical considerations.
The PCC takes complaints of anti-competitive behavior very seriously. Without prejudging the outcome of the CEO’s investigation, the PCC reminds players with substantial market power, not only in the telecommunications industry but across sectors, of their responsibility to compete fairly and to adhere to the principles of competition.
Early in this month (August), the country's newest telco player DITO filed a 100-paged complaint before the PCC accusing Globe and Smart of putting an interconnection barrier against competition and "abusing their dominant positions" in the industry.
Although interconnection among telcos is mandated under the law, DITO Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano said they experienced difficulty interconnecting with Globe and Smart.
Tamano noted that only one out of 100 calls should fail to come through, under the Grade of Service for Interconnection provision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
But to date, only 20 to 30 calls from DITO can get through to Globe and Smart.
DITO has completed its interconnection with Globe and Smart prior to its March 2021 commercial launch to allow subscribers to text and call across all three networks.
But the interconnect capacity of the duopoly has failed to keep up with the demand from DITO's 11.4 million subscribers.
Hence, DITO subscribers find it difficult to text or call Globe and Smart users. DITO sought the help of NTC, which continues to mediate in the issue for a year now.
Both Globe and Smart, however, counter DITO stressing that the supposed calls were actually