Foreign VOIP providers waiting to enter RP market.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Up to now, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) in the Philippines is a gray battlefield although local carriers have started offering the service. Foreign providers, such as Skype, Google Talk and Vonage, are waiting to pounce in the local market. ...

Telecom sector posts 14% growth.
Byline: EDU H. LOPEZ The local telecommunications industry posted a 14 percent growth to $4.7 billion in revenue last year compared to 2003. IDC Philippines noted that the industry enjoyed a strong performance in 2004. "This tremendous development was buoyed by the healthy...

Export leaders laud NTC's ruling on VoIP.
Byline: edu h. lopez Leaders of the export industry have lauded the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for standing firm in allowing new players to offer new technologies that will drastically cut down the cost of making international telephone calls. PHILEXPORT president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr....

Comcast adds phone service.
Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard The line between cable television and telephone companies will fade to a lighter shade of gray today when Comcast begins offering local and long distance phone service to Eugene-Springfield customers over its own cable communication network. Comcast is expected to...

Globe's unit Innove gets NTC nationwide license.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Telecom regulators has granted Innove Communications Inc. with a nationwide license to carry out its P5 billion rollout of 145,000 wirelines all over the country, despite opposition from 39 carriers, including the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Bayan Telecommunications Inc. ...

NTC says RP now ready for 3G services.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Unlike local telephone companies (telcos), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) believes that the Philippines is ready for Third Generation (3G) services. But while NTC is inclined to categorize 3G services as mere enhancements of the existing 2G technology, it intends to...

NEWS IN BRIEF; P/$ rate closes at P56.190 to $1.
The peso rate closed stornger at P56.190 to the US dollar yesterday at the Philippine Dealing system of the Bankers Assiociation of the Philippines from P56.295 the previous day. The weighted average rate appreciated to P56.207 from P56.261. Total volume amounted to P418.70 million. Money supply rises...

First inter-network demonstration made in Cebu; Smart to invest $300 M in 3G.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) made the first inter-network 3G video call in the Philippines during an international telecom conference in Cebu this week (November 22). Once the government approves the carrieras 3G license, Smart plans to invest approximately $300 million for...

Bayantel rolls out triple play service.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayantel) has rolled out its triple play service to deliver Voice Over Internet (VOIP), broadband Internet and Sky Cable TV channels to households using a single line in Dumaguete City. The service will start commercial operations next month,...

Review of telecom competition policy sought.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA Free market is not working in a small telecommunications market like the Philippines and the government should revisit its strategic competition policy for sector and Third Generation (3G) services. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan raised this...