Nina ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS at BETH CAMIA

Nais ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na pumasok ang China sa Pilipinas bilang ikatlong telecommunications operator upang mabuwag ang duopoly sa bansa.

Ibinunyag ito ng Malacañang kahapon, isang buwan matapos ilahad ni Duterte na sinisikap ng mga banyagang Internet service provider na makapasok sa local game ngunit hindi inaaksiyunan ng Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Ayon kay Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, inialok ito ni Duterte kay Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sa kanilang expanded bilateral meeting sa Malacañang noong Miyerkules.

“President Duterte offered to the People’s Republic of China the privilege to operate the third telecom’s carrier in the country,” ani Roque.

Ipinahayag ito ni Roque matapos lumagda ang gobyerno sa isang affiliate ng Facebook para sa proyektong “Luzon Bypass” ng Pacific Light Cable Network na magkakaloob ng two terabits per second na bandwidth.

Ayon kay Roque, ang two terabits ay katumbas ng kasalukuyang capacity ng duopoly operators na PLDT Inc., at Globe Telecom.

Kumpiyansa si Roque na bubuwagin ng pagpasok ng third player sa telecommunications ang duopoly, na magreresulta sa mas magandang serbisyo sa publiko.

“The 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,” ani Roque.

“So the good news is, the consumers can look forward now to better telecommunications, not just in terms of cellular technology but also in terms of internet speed as well as access,” dagdag niya.