The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said it is finalizing a memorandum circular seeking to prohibit property developers from imposing exclusive deals with just one broadband or Internet service provider (ISP) for tenants of condominiums and residents of subdivisions.
Photo from PCC
“We, in the Commission, are working in finalizing a draft memorandum circular hopefully to be jointly issued with other regulatory agencies involved in property development and in information and communications technology, which will essentially lay down the general principle that exclusivity arrangements, in so far as internet service provision or telecommunications entities or cable TV (television), is sought to be prohibited,” PCC Commissioner Johannes Bernabe said in a briefing Thursday, Feb. 3.
Bernabe said the memorandum circular aims to provide a mechanism that will ensure there will be no exclusivity arrangements that will unduly disadvantage consumers.
He said the antitrust authority has received around 100 complaints due to anticompetitive conducts of limiting the entry of ISPs through an exclusive Internet connectivity deal that developers impose of tenants and residents. The Competition Enforcement Office issued advisory letters to 13 property developers regarding this matter, he added.
Bernabe said that of the 13 developers, eight have agreed to comply and correct their anticompetitive practices and five are still undergoing processes to comply. Those that will not rectify their anticompetitive behavior will be subjected to further investigation by the enforcement office, he said.
“Both on an enforcement track as well as on an advocacy track — in terms of trying to come up with regulation or regulatory framework to forestall the continued practice of exclusivity arrangements — the Commission is actively involved in ensuring that those practices are sufficiently regulated,” he added. — Kris Crismundo (PNA)
