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The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology is looking to create a Frequency Management Policy to make more efficient use of the country’s available spectrum

The Filipino government could be preparing the ground for the launch of a fourth, and even fifth, telco, as the country prepares to reallocate spectrum frequencies ahead of its 5G launch.

A report in GMA News quoted Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary, Gregorio Honasan II, as saying that the government was looking at creating a frequency management policy, which would declutter the spectrum held by the country’s existing telcos.

“We will rationalise that also. It will require getting back frequencies that are allocated. It requires a frequency management policy,” he told reporters at the BusinessWorld Industry 4.0 Summit.

Honasan has previously stated that his department would welcome the emergence of a fourth and fifth player in the country’s mobile network sector, following the launch of the country’s third player, Mislatel, earlier this year.

Filipino president, Rodrigo Duterte, has long called for new players to enter the country’s mobile market to increase competition, bring down costs, and speed up the roll out of 5G.  

The country’s two incumbent network providers, Smart and Globe, have pledged to launch 5G mobile network services across the country by the middle of 2020, while newly launched Mislatel (now rebranded as Dito Telecommunications) aims to launch services later that same year.

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