The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) bared in a press briefing on Wednesday, July 6, that it will release anytime this quarter the guidelines that would prohibit property developers from having exclusive deals with just one broadband or Internet service provider (ISP) for tenants of condominiums and residents of subdivisions.
The anti-trust body, which also announced the designation of current commissioner Johannes Benjamin R. Bernabe as officer-in-charge, said it has taken into consideration the inputs of key stakeholders in the sector to ensure competition and ease of entry for ISPs in the market.
In February, the PCC said it received around 100 complaints due to anti-competitive conducts of limiting the entry of ISPs.
According to the agency, the new rules will require at least two or more ISPs in a particular condominium or settlement.
“We have to recognize that Internet is already considered a basic need and that the public must be assured that they have the choice in selecting their ISPs. We want a healthy competition in this market to improve not only the services but also the prices. We want prices of these providers also to be reasonable and this will only happen if there is a healthy competition in the market, whether in subdivision, a building, or a particular geographic area,” the PCC said.
The agency said it has been coordinating with representatives of other government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to come up with comprehensive guidelines that will also cover technical matters such as bandwidth and minimum speed.
“This issuance of the guidelines does not preclude us from continuing our investigation of cases that are the subject of complaints by unit owners or consumers who are affected by exclusivity arrangements,” said Bernabe, who cited the PCC’s decision against Urban Deca Homes, a condominium property developer which had an exclusive arrangement with a local ISP.
Bernabe said the PCC struck down that set-up as it deemed detrimental to the needs of unit owners, resulting in the termination of exclusivity arrangement.
“There have been other property developments which were the subject of complaints in which we have started investigations. Some have gone farther than others but we can assure that these investigations, as well as the issuance of the guidelines, will go hand-in-hand to send a clear message to the market that these types of exclusivity arrangements is detrimental to consumer welfare,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Bernabe will be leading the antitrust authority as OIC after former chairperson Arsenio M. Balisacan returned to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as socioeconomic planning secretary.
Bernabe is joined by commissioners Emerson B. Aquende, Marah Victoria S. Querol, and Michael B. Peloton, who are tasked to decide en banc on the different market competition issues within PCC’s jurisdiction.
Prior to his appointment at the PCC, Bernabe worked on international trade policy reforms as senior fellow at the Geneva-based International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. He was a trade negotiator for the Philippines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1999 to 2005 on services trade, intellectual property and competition law.
Bernabe was also the lead adviser on key economic legislation at the 16th Congress, which includes the Philippine Competition Act that governs the mandate of the office he now leads.
He graduated cum laude with a degree in economics at the University of the Philippines, where he also subsequently finished his law degree. He was a Chevening Fellow in the University of London, at the International Development Law Institute in Sydney, Australia, and has a postgraduate Diploma in Competition Law from King’s College in London.
