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MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte granted the Villar family’s Streamtech Systems Technologies Inc a 25-year franchise to construct and operate a telecommunications system throughout the Philippines.
SST is a venture of the Villar Group of Companies which announced plans to get into the telecom industry.
The franchise, granted through the signing of Republic Act No 11089 on October 18, allows SST to maintain for commercial purposes an “international gateway facility” to connect the Philippines to other countries.
This system includes “wireless telecommunications systems, international and national broadband system, mobile and cellular, including but not limited to fiber optics, multichannel multipoint distribution systems, switches,” among other features.
SST can now secure a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the National Telecommunications Comission (NTC). The NTC must authorize SST’s use of a frequency in the radio spectrum.
Duterte’s granting the franchise comes as his administration promised a third telecommunication player to break the duopoly of the current dominant players.
A scion of the Villar family, Mark Villar, sits in Duterte’s Cabinet as public works and highways secretary. At the start of his presidency, Duterte shrugged off concerns on Villar’s conflict of interest.
Villar himself said in an interview after accepting the Cabinet post: ”We cannot benefit from my position in any way, shape, or form. I will not allow it.”
Another prominent Villar, Cynthia, is a senator. – Rappler.com
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