November 23, 2012
Buyouts and the battle for spectrum in PH

Grace Mirandilla-Santos | November 23, 2012

Grace Mirandilla-Santosimage

Buyouts and the battle for spectrum in PH

November 23, 2012

In this wireless world, Globe Telecom is taking a great leap of faith with its recent announcement that it plans to invest in fixed line provider, Bayan Telecommunications Inc.’s (Bayan). The Ayala-led telco is seeking to buy almost 100 percent of Bayan’s outstanding debts worth $200 million for $184 million in cash. If the deal is consummated, Globe would become one of Bayan’s major creditors. Whether this takeover will happen or not, the country should know before December 18, the deadline for the offer.

In separate talks, Globe is also negotiating to purchase an equity stake in the same telco. Some analysts say this move is definitely an indication that Globe, the second largest telco in the Philippines, is feeling the heat of intense competition in the mobile market.

So, why invest in the struggling Lopez-owned telco? Apart from Bayan’s 200,000 or so landlines, it has 140,000 broadband subscribers and unused frequency. Ah, the magic word: frequency. It is such a precious, finite resource that is causing a lot of madness in the telecoms world, especially in this broadband and smartphone era.

Read the full entry here. Visit Telecom Asia for news and analysis for Asia’s telecoms operators.

11:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNCINyc-Ubx9
October 15, 2012
Cybercrime law in an SMS, Facebook nation

Grace Mirandilla-Santos | October 15, 2012

Grace Mirandilla-Santos

As Filipinos remembered the declaration of martial law 40 years ago last month—and the curtailment of many freedoms that it entailed—the incumbent president signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

If the barrage of opposition and flurry of protests online and offline were to be used as gauge, Republic Act 10175 is easily one of the most unpopular laws to be enacted in quite a while.

Barely a month had gone by after its passage, and 15 petitions have already been filed before the Supreme Court asking to either repeal it or amend certain provisions deemed by its critics as unconstitutional.   

Read the full entry here. Visit Telecom Asia for news and analysis for Asia’s telecoms operators.

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October 4, 2012
..of Ones and Zeroes: How the Anti-Cybercrime Bill Looked like when it Started

This is one gem of an archived email message! This is the original proposed draft of Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PH-CERT) for a Cybercrime Prevention Act in the Philippines from 2003, sans the questionable provisions on online libel, cybersex, and the takedown power of the Department of Justice.

Also read their official statement on the current version of the recently approved law and as featured here: Cybercrime Law creators lament too much ‘insertions’.

ofonesandzeroes:

As PHCERT President that time, I got appointed to be the Public Sector Co-chairman of the Privacy and Security Subcommittee of the IT ECommerce Council during President Erap’s time. It is in this committee that we started work on the two IT Landmark bills we know today as RA10173 (Data Privacy…

9:49am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZNCINyUbo5FD
(Notes: 3)
  
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