Utilities & Mobile move over globe n smart

Published on October 29th, 2015 | by The Maharlikan

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Australian Telco Telstra to Enter Philippine Market

Telstra, the largest telecom provider in Australia, is in talks with San Miguel Corporation to enter the Philippines to challenge Smart Communications and Globe Telecom. The joint venture discussions between the two companies are in advanced stages and have been going on for several months already. The investment from Telstra would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars as the joint venture is expected to disrupt the current market trend in the Philippines which is highly dominated by Globe and Smart Telecommunications. Telstra and San Miguel Corp pledges to bring the fastest internet in the country but way cheaper than Globe and Smart.

Why San Miguel? They basically have the spectrum assets and the ability to do business in the Philippines. Telstra would bring the technical and engineering know-how while San Miguel can navigate the local business landscape. Telstra sees a lot of potential in the Philippines because of the “lack of high-speed 4G services” which they claim just reaches 5 percent of the market.

To move forward though the new JV company will need to go on a very aggressive hiring and pirating push. San Miguel’s Liberty Telecom which operates Wi-Tribe was a massive failure as it wasn’t able to grab significant market share from either telco. The reviews of their services have also been abysmal.

The expansion of Telstra in the region is not new as they have already made big inroads in Indonesia with their JV with Telkom Indonesia. The success they’ve had there is probably one of the main sources of confidence they have in trying to enter the Philippine market.

Globe has already responded by saying “bring it on”.

 

I hope this happens and Telstra are successful in assisting the PI internet out of the horrible situation it is currently in, but as many times as I've seen companies come here with big plans to only leave 3-5 years later with their tail between their legs, licking their wounds. The PI is a very tough business environment unless you have the right connections and if those connections are political like the President/Senator/Congressman they are only good for the duration of their tenure in office and then they need to start all over again from scratch. Just my two cents worth!

 

Not so much Tough as Expensive to the Profit Pocket

Jack

 

Telstra plans to spend $1B for Philippines telco venture, slams incumbents over ‘lousy service’
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Australian telco Telstra may spend up to US$1 billion for a planned wireless joint venture with San Miguel Corporation in the Philippines, the company’s chief Andy Penn told investors today.

That’s just Telstra’s share in the JV. Partner San Miguel, a conglomerate with diversified interests in the Philippines, will also put money in the business, along with some banks that will provide financing.

“We are not expecting it to be more than US$1 billion. That would be essentially Telstra’s equity investment. We could own 40 percent of the venture, which would also have external financing as well,” Andy was quoted as saying by The Australian.

Telstra and San Miguel haven’t reached a deal yet, but talks are ongoing.

“The Philippines market from a mobile perspective is interesting because there are only two incumbent operators. The EBITDA margins in the Philippines are relatively strong and were we to complete a deal, the partner is a very strong one,” Andy continued.

If it pushes through, the pair is expected to shake up the duopoly of telcos PLDT and Globe Telecom in the archipelago.

“Frankly, let’s face it, go to the Philippines and experience the lousy service you get from the incumbent operators and you will see that [there’s] opportunity for a new operator to provide a much better quality service … I think there’s a significant opportunity,” Andy was again quoted as saying.

San Miguel is rolling out its mobile telecommunications network in the Philippines through unit Bell Telecommunications.

The conglomerate had wanted to enter the mobile business for years, but this was delayed because of other acquisition opportunities, its president Ramon Ang previously said.

See: Shake-up ahead for Philippine mobile industry from the country’s biggest beer maker

Over the past years, San Miguel has aggressively moved away from its traditional food and beer businesses and into heavy industries such as infrastructure, power, oil refining, and telecommunications.

For Telstra’s part, it won’t be its first time to break into Asia. It acquired Singapore- and Hong Kong-based internet services company Pacnet for US$697 million early this year. That deal was part of a A$5 billion (US$3.56 billion) budget it allotted for Asian ventures.

What do you think of Telstra’s plan? Would it help improve telecommunication services in the Philippines

 

Having lived in Australia for 40years and being a Telstra customer for most of that time i think it would do a lot of good for the Philippines as the telecommunication s in ph are woeful to say the least and so expensive

 

After Yesterdays revelation on foreign investment do you really thing they will go it?

 

Not all the time the Administration control it and they Certainly do.

 

That's the truth! Hope they succeed and with San Miguel as a partner they should have the right connections to succeed. I will keep my fingers crossed and hope they eventually make it to Dumaguete.