Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has offered China the opportunity to launch a third telecom operator on the local market, GMA reports, citing presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. The invitation was made at a bilateral meeting between Duterte and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last week. "During the bilateral talks between President Duterte and the Chinese Premier, President Duterte offered to the People’s Republic of China the privilege to operate the third telecom’s carrier in the country," Roque said. Globe Telecom and PLDT currently operate in the Philippines telecom market.
According to Roque, the offer was made to break the telecom's duopoly in the country. "I repeat, the announcement is that duopoly, that telecom’s duopoly is about to end with the entry of the Facebook subsidiary as well as the offer by the President of the People’s Republic of China to operate the third telecom’s carrier," the spokesperson said. "The Philippine President is so serious about this that he has instructed that all applications be filed and acted upon directly by the Office of the Executive Secretary," he added.
