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S. Korea to buy millions of vaccine doses as coronavirus cases surge

SEOUL — South Korea said on Tuesday it had signed deals to provide coronavirus vaccines for 44 million people next year, as the country battles a wave of infections that authorities say could overwhelm its medical system.

The government has arranged to buy 20 million doses each from AstraZeneca Plc, Pfizer, Inc., and Moderna, Inc., and another 4 million doses from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, enough to cover up to 34 million people, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing.

Additional doses for 10 million people would be procured through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global vaccine project, known as COVAX, he added.

“We had initially planned to secure vaccines for 30 million people but decided to purchase more, as there is uncertainty over the success of the vaccine candidates and the competition is intense among countries for early purchases,” he said.

Shipments of the vaccine would begin no later than March, but authorities would observe how the vaccines worked in other countries for several months to ensure safety. Widespread vaccination was likely to begin in the second half of next year.

Despite the current surge in cases, South Korea’s relative success in tamping down previous waves meant the government did not need to rush a vaccine, Mr. Park said.

“We don’t see the need to hurriedly begin vaccination without ensuring that the vaccines’ risks have been verified,” he said.

The first vaccines would likely go to medical workers, elderly and medically vulnerable people, and social workers.

WAVE OF INFECTIONS
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 594 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Monday, bringing the country’s total to 38,755, with 552 deaths.

Unlike South Korea’s previous two waves of infections, which were largely focused around a handful of facilities or events, the new wave is being driven by smaller, harder-to-trace clusters in and around the densely populated capital city of Seoul.

Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae said the government had been unable to trace the origin of 26% of all cases, and the positivity rate spiked nearly fourfold within a month to about 4%.

“If social distancing is not implemented properly, outbreaks in the greater Seoul area would lead to greater transmissions nationwide,” Mr. Kang told a meeting of health officials according to a transcript from the health ministry.

Health authorities predicted daily cases would hover between 550 and 750 this week, and possibly spike to as much as 900 next week.

If such predictions are accurate, Mr. Kang said the country’s health system may collapse.

“There could be a dangerous situation where it becomes difficult not only to treat COVID-19 patients but also to provide essential medical services,” he said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Monday for expanded coronavirus testing and more thorough tracing as infections continued to rise despite the imposition of increasingly restrictive social distancing measures.

Seoul was not currently in talks to buy vaccines from either Russia or China, Mr. Park said. — Reuters

Airbnb nonprofit to focus on finding housing for disaster, pandemic workers

WASHINGTON — Home-sharing giant Airbnb will enlist its global network of millions of participants to help house aid workers and health care staff working to fight coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it said on Monday, aiming to fill a gap in shelter options amid the pandemic.

Its planned program will find housing for workers who before the pandemic would have stayed in large-scale locations like gyms and now are staying in hotels, said Katherine Woo, executive director of a new nonprofit, Airbnb.org, that will oversee it.

Airbnb has 4 million hosts who rent out their homes through the online network in 100,000 cities worldwide.

“We’re finding that emergency management agencies, as well as guests themselves, are finding our type of accommodation more appealing, where a family can have the whole place to themselves, feel comfortable, and have access to a kitchen,” Ms. Woo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The program will help arrange free or reduced-cost housing for international aid workers responding to disasters and to medical personnel engaged in coronavirus testing and vaccine work, she said.

It also will provide housing for victims of natural disasters.

The company has been allowing its hosts to offer their spaces free or at reduced cost since 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and Airbnb.org will be a non-profit spin-off.

It will be independent but will get some funding from its parent company, which started in 2008.

Since 2012, more than 100,000 users in 100-plus countries have offered space for those in need, helping around 75,000 people find accommodation, Ms. Woo said.

Response was particularly robust in response in the Australian bushfires early in 2020, she said.

“We’ve built up a supply of hosts who are signed up, opted in, and willing to go,” said Ms. Woo. “That’s our goal — to be at the ready and make sure we have a deep-enough set of hosts to be ready on a moment’s notice, certainly in areas that are very disaster-prone.”

The program has helped house workers and volunteers with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Community Organized Relief Effort during pandemic-related missions.

The tie-up has allowed IFRC volunteers in Mexico to “safely isolate from their loved ones while they carried out their vital work,” IFRC under-secretary-general Nena Stoiljkovic said in an e-mail, and “enabling teams to be located within the very communities they are working tirelessly to support.” — Thomson Reuters Foundation

Australia wants Facebook, Google to pay news outlets for content

AUSTRALIA is proposing a law that will require Facebook to pay media outlets for news content. — REUTERS

SYDNEY — Australia locked in plans on Tuesday to make Facebook, Inc and Google pay its media outlets for news content, a world-first move aimed at protecting independent journalism that has drawn strong opposition from the internet giants.

Under laws to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Big Tech firms will have to negotiate how much they pay local publishers and broadcasters for content that appears on their platforms.

If they can’t strike a deal, a government-appointed arbitrator will decide how much they will need to pay.

“This is a huge reform, this is a world first, and the world is watching what happens here in Australia,” Mr. Frydenberg told reporters in the capital Canberra.

“Our legislation will help ensure that the rules of the digital world mirror the rules of the physical world … and ultimately sustain our media landscape here in Australia.”

The law amounts to the strongest check of the tech giants’ market power globally, and follows three years of inquiry and consultation, ultimately spilling into a public dispute in August when the US companies warned it may it may stop them offering their services in Australia.

Asked about earlier Facebook threats to block news content from its Australian website and Google’s threat to block its main search engine in Australia, Mr. Frydenberg said “it’s a mandatory code” and the companies would be “required by law … to abide by it”.

In changes to draft legislation announced earlier this year that might benefit the tech companies, the final version of the law would not affect news content distributed on Facebook’s Instagram subsidiary or Google’s Youtube.

But Mr. Frydenberg added to the list of media companies with whom the tech giants must negotiate, saying public broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and specialist public broadcaster SBS would be included, along with dominant private sector outlets like News Corp. and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd. Representatives of Google and Facebook were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. — Reuters

WEF opts to hold meeting in Singapore over Davos

THE WORLD Economic Forum (WEF) will hold its 2021 annual meeting in Singapore instead of its traditional home of Switzerland, which is battling a rising number of coronavirus infections.

The high-profile gathering, which attracts leaders across government, finance and economics, will be held in the Asian financial hub May 13-16 and return to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, in 2022, the World Economic Forum said. The meeting will also include a virtual component to allow greater participation, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Singapore was chosen because it has a relatively low rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, and has recently started experimenting with modified versions of large-scale conference. Earlier this year, the WEF had said it would move the location of its 2021 meeting within Switzerland to the resort of Bürgenstock.

Switzerland is fighting a surge in infections and had about 54,000 new cases in the last two weeks, almost as many as Singapore has reported since the outbreak began.

“The Special Annual Meeting 2021 will be a place for leaders from business, government and civil society to meet in person for the first time since the start of the global pandemic,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

In years past, the WEF’s annual meeting has attracted political leaders including US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as a parade of billionaires, executives and celebrities to debate global challenges. — Bloomberg

Filipino actors among Forbes top 100 digital stars list

Forbes Asia has named the top 100 digital stars from across the Asia Pacific region “who have taken the digital world by storm… with their powerful social media presence” in a list that includes film and TV personalities such as the Philippines’ own Marian Rivera-Dantes and Anne Curtis-Smith and bands such as K-Pop groups BTS and BlackPink.

“We’ve given special focus to celebrities who, despite cancelled physical events and activities, managed to remain active and relevant, largely by using social media to interact with their fans, raise awareness and inspire optimism,” the publication said before adding that the list is unranked.

The list, published on Tuesday, focuses on celebrities from the Asia-Pacific region who were evaluated based on the “candidates’ combined social media reach and engagement.”

“We also considered their recent work, impact and advocacy, brand endorsements and business endeavors, and their recognition profile on a local, regional and global level. Only those active in film, music, and TV were eligible,” the company said.

From the Philippines, the list includes actress Marian Rivera-Dantes, described as the “Philippines’ most popular celebrity on Facebook with 23 million followers.” Ms. Rivera-Dantes was included in the list because while she has not appeared on screen since the birth of her second child in 2019, her multiple endorsements (for Nestle Nido, Philippine National Bank, and Tough Mama, to name a few) keep her active on social media.

Actress and singer Kim Chiu also made the list for her use of a “viral video gaffe” in May which led to the creation of “The Classroom Song.” Ms. Chiu sold merchandise under the “Classroom Song” brand to raise money for pandemic relief.

Another Filipino actress that made the list is Anne Curtis-Smith, chosen for her popularity on Instagram — she has roughly 16 million followers —  and her endorsements with Jollibee, Louis Vuitton, and Pantene.

Comedian and TV host Vice Ganda was also included in the list, chosen for being one of the most popular male celebrities on Facebook with 17 million followers. Both Vice Ganda and Ms. Curtis-Smith starred in the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival movie, The Mall the Merrier.

Kathryn Bernardo also made the list, with Forbes Asia noting that she had starred in two of the Philippines’ highest-grossing films: The Hows of Us in 2018 and Hello Love, Goodbye in 2019.

The final Filipino included on the Digital Stars list is singer Sarah Geronimo who, together with her husband, actor Matteo Guidicelli, sang a duet at a COVID-19 benefit concert that raised roughly $5 million.

The five Filipino celebrities are joined by K-Pop groups BlackPink (noted for their popularity on Instagram and multiple endorsements with luxury brands such as Dior, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent) and BTS. The boy group ranked 47th on the Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list this year having earned $50 million in 2020, alongside numerous record-breaking chart toppers on Billboard. Their song, “Dynamite” became the first music video to reach 100 million views within 24 hours.

Other celebrities included in the list are: Japan’s Arashi and Kiko Mizuhara; Taiwan’s Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai; Thailand’s Mario Maurer, Davika Hoorne, Jannine Weigel, and Urassaya Sperbund; China’s Zhao Dongyu, Victoria Song, Kris Wu, Zhao Liying, Lu Han, among others; Singapore’s JJ Lin, Stefanie Sun, and Wutt Hmone Shwe Yi; and Australian actress Margot Robbie. — Zsarlene B. Chua

SEC tightens rules on investment firms

By Angelica Y. Yang

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has tightened the rules covering investment companies and fund managers, in order to align with global best practices and to better protect shareholders.

SEC Memorandum Circular No. 33 amended the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 2629 or the Investment Company Act. The circular was published in two newspapers on Dec. 5, and will take effect after 15 days.

Under the new rules, an investment company that is part of an existing group of investment companies under the same fund manager must comply with the minimum subscribed and paid-up capital, which is not less than P1 million.

Investment companies are required to appoint a fund manager with an investment company adviser, but under the revised rules, the additional capital requirement for the licensing of the adviser is now capped at P1 billion. The investment company adviser should also have a paid-up capital of at least P50 million which should be “unimpaired at all times.”

The previous rules required the firm to have a minimum paid-up capital of P50 million and a minimum unimpaired net worth of P50 million, but should infuse an additional unimpaired capital of 0.02% of the excess of P100 billion of its total assets under management.

The SEC also amended the process that companies have to undertake in the event that they failed to hire a new fund manager. If the investment company liquidates its assets due to its failure to hire a new fund manager, its unclaimed assets “shall be placed by the liquidator and/or fund manager in an escrow account for 10 years” or until a time when investors have claimed their investments.

The new rules also focused on the creation of an independent oversight entity (IOE), which would be an impartial committee that would monitor the transactions and functions of fund managers.

“An investment company may constitute its Audit Committee as its IOE or may engage the services of a custodian bank, trust entity or an external auditor to serve as such,” the SEC said.

The SEC also gave more details on hedging arrangements, which must not be aimed at generating returns, meet its objective in all market conditions, and relate to the same asset class being hedged, among others.

An investment company should have at least 10% of its assets invested in liquid/semi-liquid assets, but the new rules allow it to invest less than 10% “provided it shall submit a notarized liquidity contingency plan.”

Chief Economist of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Michael L. Ricafort said that the approved measures are meant to protect the investing public, and realign the country’s regulations with best global practices.

“The amendments to the Investment Company Act are meant to give greater protection to the investment public more than anything else, especially in terms of promoting greater controls or checks, transparency, liquidity, financial capability or professionalism of fund managers or investment companies, and prudent allocation of funds or investments,” he told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview.

He added that they are also meant to “better align the country’s regulations with the rest of the Asian region as well as with global best practices.”

PSALM demands Olongapo LGU pay P6.7 billion in overdue debt

STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) wants the Olongapo City local government to pay within seven calendar days at least P6.71 billion in electricity bills and other charges incurred over the past 12 years.

In a statement on Monday, the Finance department said PSALM President-CEO Irene Joy J. Besido-Garcia and acting Vice-President for Finance Manuel Marcos M. Villalon II sent the final demand letter to Olongapo City Mayor Rolen C. Paulino, Jr.

The Olongapo City government was given seven calendar days from the receipt of the demand letter to pay the long overdue debt or “face legal action.” It was not clear when the letter was received by Mr. Paulino.

According to the Department of Finance (DoF), the city’s Public Utilities Department owes PSALM P6.71 billion as of July 31, 2020.

Broken down, the local government unit owes PSALM P5.66 billion in power bills with interest and value-added tax (VAT); P813.77 million in default wholesale supplier arrangement charges with interest and VAT; P230.71 million in deferred accounting adjustment charges with interest and VAT; and P8.72 million in VAT on the Automatic Cost Recovery Mechanism True Up.

If Olongapo City is not able to pay its arrears within the prescribed period, PSALM officials said they would have “to avail of all appropriate legal remedies to protect PSALM and the Government’s interests, including the filing of criminal, civil and administrative cases” against the mayor and other local government officials.

To recall, the PSALM sent the first in a series of final demand letters to the Olongapo City Government in April 2012, when the latter’s debt stood at P3.58 billion.

In May 2019, PSALM sent another final demand letter to Olongapo City government, citing dues that reached P6.18 billion.

The state-run agency said that, although the unit remitted P20 million in July and December last year, there was “still a substantial amount of arrears left unpaid.” In July, the Olongapo City government’s financial obligations climbed to P6.71 billion.

As of press time, Mr. Paulino, the Olongapo City Mayor’s office, and the Olongapo City Information Office have not yet responded to BusinessWorld’s request for a comment.

PSALM has been working to collect billions in obligations from its power customers.

In 2019, the agency collected P98.37 billion in revenue and receivables last year, allowing it to slash its debt by P27.18 billion, exceeding targets. Of the total amount, PSALM collected P4.32 billion from overdue and delinquent accounts. — Angelica Y. Yang

Toll firms to test interoperability of RFID systems

TOLL OPERATORS will still be required to have lanes for the installation of RFID stickers beyond Jan. 11. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS

THE TOLLWAY units of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) will soon begin to test the interoperability of their cashless payment systems, the Transportation department said on Monday.

SMC TPLEX Corp., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and NLEX Corp. signed on Dec. 4 a memorandum of agreement to test the use of AutoSweep and EasyTrip radio frequency identification (RFID) cashless toll payments for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

AutoSweep RFID tags are issued by SMC for use on the tollways it operates, while the EasyTrip RFID tags are issued by MPTC for its own tollways.

Eventually, the motorists will be required to have only one RFID sticker “but now it’s the mutual compatibility,” Romulo S. Quimbo, Jr., NLEX Corp. senior vice-president for communications, told BusinessWorld in a phone interview.

Mr. Quimbo said “mutual compatibility” would mean one sticker, either AutoSweep or EasyTrip, can be used on any toll road.

“That means you have two accounts or two wallets in your sticker,” he added.

Mr. Quimbo said the 14-day interoperability testing will start “in a few days’ time.”

The Transportation department said the interoperability testing will involve 45 vehicles from different classifications.

“After the test, the participants will submit their test transaction reports and dashcam video recordings to the steering committee for validation and assessment. The steering committee is given five (5) days, from the complete submission of the data collected, to determine the read rate percentage or the system’s performance indicator when comparing RFID infrastructure,” the department said.

Mr. Quimbo said the results of the tests may be announced by January. “Hopefully the conclusion is that a sticker can be used on two expressways provided that you activate another account in the same sticker,” he added.

The Transportation department said efforts to make the toll collection systems interoperable were started in 2017 after the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the toll road operators.

The implementation of the project was accelerated this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Transportation department earlier set Dec. 1 as the deadline for toll operators to implement cashless payments, but the transition period will end on Jan. 11, which means motorists without RFID stickers will not be apprehended just yet.

Toll operators will still be required to have lanes for the installation of RFID stickers beyond Jan. 11.

MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin

PHL scores higher on ranking of data coverage

By Marissa Mae M. Ramos, Researcher

THE PHILIPPINES scored higher in the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) assessment of nonprofit organization Open Data Watch, which tracks coverage and openness of official country statistics.

The country scored 73 out of 100 in the ODIN 2020, placing 18th out of 187 countries. In its previous iteration in 2018, the Philippines scored 58 out of 100 while ranking 41st out of 178 countries.

Out of 11 Southeast Asian economies, the country ranked second to Singapore this year, which scored 91 out of 100 and ranked first globally.

Scores of each country are obtained from a combination of scores on data coverage and openness. Data coverage refers to indicator availability, disaggregation, and frequency of observations, while data openness refers to the format and licensing of datasets, comprehensiveness of metadata, and download options of data available.

In terms of data openness, the Philippines scored 81 out of 100 to rank 17th globally and second regionally. The country fulfilled all of ODIN’s criteria under category Terms of Use which looks at whether data are made available under an open license that allows users to reuse, share and adapt data for commercial and non-commercial use.

It also scored high in categories such as: Non-proprietary, which looks at the availability of data in formats that do not require costly software to access, and Machine-readability, gaining a score of 98, and 97, respectively.

Moreover, the Philippines scored 63 out of 100 in the data coverage indicator to rank 25th globally and second regionally. Under this indicator, it scored highest in category Indicators and Disaggregation with 88, while it scored lowest on category Second Administrative Level with 17, which looks at the availability of data on further divisions.

Among data categories, economic statistics in the country had the highest overall score of 81 (out of 100) after achieving a score of 79 in data coverage and 83 in data openness. Economic statistics include the national accounts, labor, price indices, international trade, and balance of payment data.

The Philippines scored 73 in environment statistics, which include data on agriculture and land use, resource use, energy, pollution, and built environment.

Meanwhile, it scored lowest in social statistics at 65, which looks at population and vital statistics, education and health facilities and outcomes, gender statistics, and poverty and income among others.

More Philippine firms now find it ‘easy’ to innovate, study says

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

MORE THAN HALF of Philippine organizations now find innovation in the country “easy,” after they increased their abilities to innovate amid a pandemic crisis, the latest study by Microsoft Corp. and International Data Corp. (IDC) Asia/Pacific showed.

“Since the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, Philippine organizations have matured in the culture of innovation by 4%, increasing their ability to innovate; 56% of these organizations now find innovation easy,” Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

Before the pandemic, 77% of organizations in the Philippines found innovation to be “hard,” the study said.

“They have since changed perceptions with significantly less Philippines organizations and leaders (36%) having this sentiment now,” Microsoft noted.

“This is because they were forced to accelerate innovation in response to the disruptions in the market,” it added.

The study found an increase of 5.4 percentage points in the number of adopters of the so-called “culture of innovation” among Philippine firms.

“The culture of innovation is the synergy between four dimensions: technology, processes, data, and people. These allow organizations to drive sustained innovation,” Microsoft noted.

“In the span of six months, organizations in the Philippines have matured in the culture of innovation… In comparison, organizations in Asia Pacific saw an 11% growth in the culture of innovation maturity,” it added.

The report said almost half or 43.8% of Philippine organizations will be focusing on “having the right technology” in the next 12 months “to become resilient and be able to quickly recover from the crisis.”

Microsoft and IDC Asia/Pacific surveyed 213 business leaders and 231 employees in the Philippines within six months, before and since the pandemic.  Microsoft said the study was part of a broader survey among 3,312 business leaders and 3,495 employees “across 15 markets in Asia-Pacific conducted over the same time-period.”

Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, associate vice president, head of digital transformation at IDC Asia/Pacific, said: “We see amongst leaders a constant appetite for growth and evolution. During COVID-19, 45% of them (in the Asia-Pacific region) said they think their business model will lose competitiveness in five years’ time, as compared to 21% of firms in the Philippines.”

“This desire and urgency for continuous improvement through agility and adaptation to change will determine the success of businesses in this new normal,” he added.

More property seekers eyeing house and lots

MORE PROPERTY seekers are interested in buying house and lot properties as well as land-only projects due to the lockdown, online property marketplace Lamudi said in a report on Monday.

“After the experience of staying at home for a long period, property seekers appreciate larger floor areas in their property. House and lots and land-only projects have captured great interest as preferences for the living set-up tilt to horizontal developments,” Lamudi said in its third quarter report.

House and lot properties remained the most popular listing in Metro Manila in the third quarter, representing 52.95% of total listings.

Interested buyers inquired about houses the most, accounting for 43.27% of leads, compared to 31.52% for land and 17.02% for condo developments.

Quezon City topped the list of cities in Metro Manila generating the highest number of leads, with almost half of the leads in the region. The cities of Makati and Manila followed with 16.97% and 9.44%, respectively.

Outside of Metro Manila, Cagayan de Oro is experiencing a “huge demand” for houses for sale, the report said.

“Property seekers prefer the regional center to have greater accessibility to essential goods. As the national government builds more infrastructure projects, these areas will see stronger interest among property seekers,” Lamudi said.

Online searches for house and lot properties represented half of the property page views in Cagayan de Oro in the third quarter.

At the same time, Lamudi said property seekers are looking into Cebu and Davao cities as they see potential in land asset value increasing as the government develops infrastructure in those cities.

In Cebu, lot-only properties generated more inquiries with 46% of leads compared to 36.31% for houses. The same was true of Davao City, with land registering 48.55% of leads.

“This signifies that most property seekers are eager to buy lots for sale in Metro Davao, particularly in Davao City.” — Jenina P. Ibañez

Dito Telecommunity’s cell towers near 1,900

DENNIS A. UY’S Dito Telecommunity Corp. has constructed about 1,900 cell towers to date, in line with its commitment for its first year, an official said on Monday.

“As of today, we have close to 1,900 towers already constructed,” Dito Chief Administrative Officer Adel A. Tamano said in a hearing.

He noted the third telco player has built more than enough cell sites to achieve its commitment to cover 37% of the population with a minimum of 27 Megabits per second (Mbps).

He added Dito was able to build more than 1,300 by September and reached over 1,500 towers in October. It has also laid out 11 kilometers of cable.

“These infrastructure achievements are more than enough to cover the 37% of the population and deliver speed of a minimum 27 Mbps,” he said.

Mr. Tamano was speaking before the Senate Public Services Committee, which is tackling its franchise application under House Bill No. 7332. The committee however suspended deliberations on the franchise pending its March rollout.

“The basis of granting the franchise, because we’ll be remiss also of our responsibility, is that they’re able to provide at least the initial commitment they gave,” Senator Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares said in the hearing. “If they’re able to do that, then we will be able to determine if we will give them the additional 25 years.”

The bill will renew for another 25 years the franchise granted to Dito Telecom, formerly known as the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. (Mislatel). The franchise will officially expire in 2023.

For its second year, Dito Telecom targets to reach around 50% coverage, which will go up to 70% in the third and 84% in the last year. Mr. Tamano said the company is aiming to get to around 90%, beyond its commitment to the government.

“We actually aim to hit those milestones in advance, we are hoping that for example, our final year, we’re hoping to hit about 84-85% coverage, but we are aiming for more than 90% coverage for our final year,” he said.

The company will undergo a technical audit on Jan. 7 next year, which was originally set last July 8. It was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic that placed the country under a strict lockdown.

Ms. Poe-Llamanzares, who chairs the committee, asked Dito Telecom whether it will be able to reach underserved and unserved areas, which is a part of its commitment, but Mr. Tamano said the company started in highly urbanized areas to achieve its target.

“We have to do it in a very logical and very efficient way, which is unfortunately we start with NCR (National Capital Region) areas, with Cebu, with Davao,” he said.

The panel also decided to conduct an executive session to discuss cybersecurity issues concerning Dito Telecom after Senator Francis N. Pangilinan raised that China Telecommunications Corp. has been blacklisted by the United States.

Mr. Pangilinan was referring to the list issued by the US Department of Defense that identified Chinese companies that American companies are not allowed to invest in. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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