Improve services or face foreign competition, Duterte warns telcos

The country’s telecommunication firms should improve their services or risk facing more foreign competitors, President Duterte warned Friday. The President said he would seek investments from China to boost the country’s telecommunications industry after he personally experienced the poor service of the local telcos. “Mag-text ako maghintay ako reply, matulog muna ako, kinabukasan ko pa mabasa. Tinitiis ko lang yan [Whenever I text, I have to wait until the next day to receive the reply. I am just bearing with this bad service],” the President said during the Banana Summit in Davao City. “If you do not do it right, I’m going to China. I’ll open up everything for completion,” he added. The President raised the complaint shortly after he announced that Smart Communications head Manuel V. Pangilinan and the Ayalas of Globe Telecoms have agreed to lend their services to establish a government hotline for complaints about corruption. Duterte [...]