Philippine Competition Commission Archives

Manila, Philippines – Cable television service Sky Cable is set to make its final broadcast on February 26 following the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to PLDT to acquire Sky Cable.

In a text advisory sent out to its users, Sky Cable said that it will officially discontinue its cable TV business following its last broadcast day and in anticipation of the PLDT acquisition. Said advisory is also reflected in its official website.

“In anticipation of and pursuant to the closing conditions of the PLDT-SKY acquisition deal, SKY will now begin its transition into a dedicated internet service provider. With this deal, SKY will discontinue its cable TV operations effective February 27, 2024. The final broadcast and sign-off of SKYcable will be on February 26, 2024 at 11:59pm,” the company stated.

It is worth noting, however, that SKY Fiber will still continue operations, with the company promising that subscribers will be provided with the same level of service and customer experience.

“Thank you for your years of support and for making SKYcable a part of your home,” the company concluded.

Recent stock filings by ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, and PLDT that the Philippine Competition Commission has already approved the acquisition, and is now subject to closing conditions and final approval through a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) by March 16.

Last week, PLDT clarified news about the acquisition following media reports suggesting that the Sky Cable acquisition had already been closed by both parties.

“Once the approval of the PCC is obtained, the sellers will continue to work on the other closing conditions which include, among others, the termination or cessation of Sky’s pay TV and cable businesses, obtaining all other applicable government approvals and clearances, and obtaining all required consents and corporate actions,” it previously said.

Details about the merger first came into light when ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, signed an agreement with PLDT back in March 2023 to sell off fully the business to PLDT. It is also worth noting that Cignal, the media firm under PLDT’s MediaQuest affiliate, had already a 34.99% stake in Sky Cable, which materialised back in 2022.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) company has clarified that its proposed acquisition of the broadband business of Sky Cable has yet to be approved by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).

This comes after multiple media reports stated that the PCC has approved PLDT’s acquisition of Sky Cable for PHP6.75b.

In a recent stock filing by PLDT, the company clarified that PCC has yet to conclude its review process of the proposed merger.

Moreover, the company said that obtaining the closing conditions for the acquisition is necessary for the implementation of the proposed transaction.

Details about the merger first came into light when ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, signed an agreement with PLDT back in March 2023 to sell off fully the business to PLDT.

“The proceeds from the sale of the shares of ABS-CBN and the settlement of Sky Vision’s obligations to ABS-CBN will be used by ABS-CBN to settle and fund its retirement obligations. The sale of the company’s ownership in Sky will also allow ABS-CBN to focus its resources on content creation,” ABS-CBN back then.

It is also worth noting that Cignal, the media firm under PLDT’s MediaQuest affiliate, had already a 34.99% stake in Sky Cable, which materialised back in 2022.

Manila, Philippines – Following a recent ₱9m fine by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), Grab Philippines has stated that it is now evaluating its legal options regarding the fine, stating that it has been proactive at communicating with the PCC in regards to alternative options in reimbursing the fees to consumers.

A spokesperson for Grab Philippines said that while they are surprised with the new fine PCC has given them, they are glad that the PCC has finally come to a decision on the disbursement mechanism for the remaining administrative fees.

“Grab Philippines has always been 100% committed to fully depleting the unclaimed admin fees, and have made every effort we can to do so. We proposed alternative disbursement mechanisms and are surprised that the PCC made a decision in February 2023 without informing us – given that we’ve been regularly following up with them,” the spokesperson said.

The company also added that they will abide by the recent PCC order in regards to the alternative refund mechanism as required by the order.

The fine imposed by the PCC is composed of a ₱6m fine where Grab violated three separate commission orders for the company to return a combined ₱25.45m to its customers. The other ₱3m fine is in regards to Grab providing incorrect and misleading information in the compliance reports that the company submitted with respect to the refund orders.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has slapped Grab Philippines a new ₱9m fine (~US$160k) amidst delays in its refund to customers. This is more than three years after the PCC first ordered the reimbursement to Grab.

The fine is composed of a ₱6m fine where PCC said Grab violated three separate commission orders for the company to return a combined ₱25.45m to its customers. The other ₱3m fine is in regards to Grab providing incorrect and misleading information in the compliance reports that the company submitted with respect to the refund orders.

It should be recalled that the PCC penalised Grab a total of ₱63.7 million since 2018 for violations of its price and service quality commitments. It was in late 2019 when the Commission imposed on Grab the penalty to return a portion of its commissions to Grab’s passengers for violating its price monitoring commitment.

It has since ordered Grab to issue refunds in the amounts of ₱5.05m in November 2019, ₱14.15m in December 2019, and ₱6.25m in October 2020.

Moreover, the PCC also ordered Grab PH to pay back ₱19.3m to its users back in March 2022. In response, Grab PH stated back then that they have disbursed the full administrative fee in a manner consistent with the agreed mechanics with the PCC.

The PCC has also directed Grab to put in place an alternative refund mechanism that would allow its customers to claim remaining refunds, barring which the company was ordered to convey the amount to PCC for remittance to the National Treasury. To ensure higher take-up of the refund, the PCC instructed Grab to exhaust different platforms to inform customers about the pending reimbursement.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine telecommunications industry is facing new challenges, as telco giant Globe Telecom and new player DITO have exchanged public statements regarding their business operations and performance.

It first started with DITO, who filed two complaints at the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) against Globe Telecom and Smart Communications for their competitive business behaviour, more specifically during their interconnection agreement.

Said interconnection agreements allow DITO users to send texts and make calls to users of PLDT’s Smart and Globe.

“It has become very difficult for our subscribers to interconnect with Globe and Smart,” said Adel Tamano, chief administrative officer at DITO through CNN Philippines.

Meanwhile, the PCC has acknowledged DITO’s complaints, stating that interconnection is an essential component of the telecommunications industry as it allows interoperability and exchange of calls, SMS, and other information from one network to another.

Johannes R. Bernabe, the OIC chairperson at the Philippine Competition Commission, said, “Our Competition Enforcement Office (CEO) is now evaluating the merits of Dito’s complaints. The Commission has 10 days within which to decide whether or not to give due course to the complaint. If given due course, our CEO will proceed to investigate the charges and if it subsequently finds sufficient basis, file with the Commission en banc a Statement of Objections against the allegedly erring entities.”

In response, Globe Telecom has released a statement, asking the country’s National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to require DITO to pay up to PHP622m in interconnection penalties.

According to Globe’s statement, around 1,000 fraudulent calls– identified as international in origin but masked as local calls– are allowed to pass through DITO’s network to Globe users every day, a clear violation of interconnection deals.

“Clearly, DITO has not only failed to compensate Globe, but it also has not taken any serious actions to curtail bypass activities emanating from its network and terminating in Globe’s. Indeed, these bypass activities have not waned but have in fact continuously increased over the said period. DITO’s twin failures to check these bypass activities and pay Globe what it is justly due have worked on a continuing serious prejudice against Globe,” the telco said.

Globe and DITO have signed an interconnection agreement in February 2021 which covers domestic mobile calls and SMS enabling Globe’s customers to make mobile calls, send SMS with DITO Telecommunity’s customers without additional charges.

Manila, Philippines – Following the latest order from the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to Grab Philippines to return ₱19.3m in refunds to its customers, the company released a new statement, stating that they have complied with the disbursement order of the PCC, adding they have disbursed the full administrative fee in a manner consistent with the agreed mechanics with the PCC.

A spokesperson from Grab Philippines said that since the first order directing Grab Philippines to disburse the administrative fees to eligible passengers last November 14, 2019, Grab Philippines has been proactively monitoring said redemption. Immediately upon its receipt of the PCC Order, Grab Philippines has outlined to the PCC its suggested measures to address this situation and has been eagerly awaiting the PCC’s response.

“Grab Philippines remains fully committed to complying with its undertakings and commitments and doing right by its stakeholders, and is proactively working with the PCC to exhaust all possible measures to ensure that the remaining administrative fee is redeemed by all eligible passengers,” said Grab.

They also added that following regulations from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), those who have completed the basic know-your-customer (KYC) process can directly redeem the amount which was credited on their GrabPay Wallet accounts.

“Eligible passengers who have not yet completed their basic KYC are required to complete this BSP-mandated process prior to redemption. Grab cannot credit their GrabPay Wallet without completion of basic KYC as this is a regulatory requirement of the BSP,” they further stated.

The company also added that it has yet to receive the final decision of the PCC on the recommendations for those eligible passengers lacking the mandatory KYC.

“We would like to reassure our kababayans that we will continue to work with the competition commission to ensure that the remaining administrative fee amount is fully-redeemed–and focus our efforts in helping the Philippine economy recover,” they concluded.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippines Competition Commission (PCC), the country’s organisation dedicated to regulate business competition, has ordered Grab Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary MyTaxi.PH, Inc. to pay ₱19.3m (US$368k) in refunds to its users.

The commission found out that only 24.1% of the total refund has been claimed from Grab by eligible passengers as of 15 June 2021, or ₱6.15m out of the total ₱25.45m penalty required by the PCC to be returned to Grab users.

PCC is giving Grab until 22 April to refund the remaining amounts to eligible users, noting that the refund should be immediately credited via GrabPay Wallet without requiring any act from the users to claim the amount.

PCC Chair Arsenio M. Balisacan said, “The penalties are in the form of a refund to remind Grab that every pricing or booking violation committed against passengers shall be paid back to passengers. Grab should immediately release the refunds and continue to adhere to its commitments.”

The antitrust agency previously penalised Grab a total of ₱63.7 million since 2018 for violations of its price and service quality commitments. It was in late 2019 when the Commission imposed on Grab the penalty to return a portion of its commissions to Grab’s passengers for violating its price monitoring commitment.

It has since ordered Grab to issue refunds in the amounts of ₱5.05m in November 2019, ₱14.15m in December 2019, and ₱6.25m in October 2020.

The penalties were the result of Grab’s takeover of Uber in 2018, which raised competition concerns and was subjected to a PCC Decision committing the merged entity to a standard as if it had a rival. During the monitoring period, PCC found that the ride-hailing company committed extraordinary pricing deviations, which resulted in the three sets of penalties.

“The PCC remains steadfast in monitoring Grab’s commitments to temper the firm’s dominance in the ride-hailing market. These measures are in place to prevent Grab from exercising monopolistic behaviour due to its unchallenged market power,” Balisacan said.

He added, “Through the years, the commitment measures are meant to be temporary in disciplining Grab while waiting for the market to mature with new major players. A more permanent pro-competition solution here is to open the market to more Transport Network Companies that can truly rival Grab on the same level.”