Philippine Telecommunications Infrastructure — The Duopoly, the Third Player, and Where the Konektadong Pinoy Act Stands

As of 2026-08-30 · Updated 2026-08-30 · Section: Economy, Industry & Business · 日本語版

0. A 10-Line Summary to Start

1. Market Structure — the Reality Behind "Duopoly Plus One"

1.1 The Main Players

注 "Globe has the most subscribers" and "PLDT has the highest revenue" are two different metrics. When a Japanese-language article calls one company "the largest," always check which metric it means.

1.2 PLDT — Growth Is Coming From Outside the Core Business

• H1 2026: revenue ₱112.01 billion (+2%), expenses ₱84.88 billion (+4%), net income ₱16.45 billion (-6%), core income ₱16.6 billion (-2%). Mobile revenue was flat at ₱42.1 billion, while broadband revenue fell to ₱30.0 billion (source: The Philippine Star, August 14, 2026)
• Growth came from enterprise (₱24.8 billion, +5%), data-center subsidiary VITRO (revenue +13%, roughly a third of the market), and digital bank Maya (H1 contribution ₱559 million, deposits ₱86.0 billion, loans ₱39.0 billion)
• VITRO plans to expand capacity to 44 MW in 2026 and 62.4 MW in 2027. In June 2026 PLDT filed for a ₱24 billion IPO of its data-center division
• This is set against AWS's pledged US$5 billion investment and Executive Order 119, which requires sensitive data to be stored domestically (source: same as above)
• Smart won Ookla's "Best Mobile Video Experience" award for H1 2026 for the second consecutive year (Video Score 72.82). As of end-June 2026 it had 12.5 million 5G-capable handsets (+30%, 21% of all devices) (source: The Philippine Star, August 24, 2026)
• Chairman and CEO is Manuel V. Pangilinan (confirmed current as of remarks in July 2026)

1.3 Globe — Leads in Subscribers, but Profit Is Squeezed

• In April 2026, the chairmanship passed from Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala to Cezar Consing. President and CEO is Carl Raymond Cruz
• Pricing: Globe says it cut data rates 60% since 2019 and 17% from 2024 to 2025 (December 2025, remarks by CEO Cruz). In the ₱999 tier, speeds rose from 50 to 100 Mbps, halving the per-Mbps price; in the ₱1,499–1,699 tier, speeds quadrupled, cutting per-Mbps price by 70%
• 注 This "60% cut" figure is the operator's own claim, not a government statistic. The 2024 GSMA Affordability Index cited in the same report (which puts the Philippines on par with Cambodia and Vietnam) is also industry-association data, worth noting

1.4 DITO Telecommunity — the Third Player's Progress and Limits

Formation and license terms

注 Regarding compliance with license terms, results of the annual technical audits from 2024 onward could not be confirmed in publicly available materials. As of August 2026, definitive statements that "DITO did/did not meet its commitments" should be treated as unconfirmed. Even in 2021, Infrawatch PH was calling for full public disclosure of the audit results, so transparency has never been strong.

Current scale

Finances

• Full-year 2024: revenue ₱16.3 billion, net loss ₱14.7 billion (注the primary source has not been reached, as of 2026-08-26. During the 2026-08-26 source-hygiene pass, the English-language Wikipedia citation for this figure was removed. The original source is DITO CME Holdings Corp.'s timely disclosures and annual reports filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The figures are retained but should be treated as reference only and not cited on their own)
• Fundraising plan: private placements targeting ₱28.83 billion by 2028, plus conversion of about ₱26.0 billion in shareholder advances to equity. It has already raised ₱9.0 billion + ₱2.87 billion from Singapore's Summit Telco, and ₱1.0 billion + ₱197 million from DITO Holdco (June 2025 / The Philippine Star)
• As of June 2026, DITO is negotiating a new capital raise with a "bank-affiliated technology investor" for 5G expansion (amount undisclosed)

注 The third operator is at the stage of "subscribers have grown, but profitability hasn't followed." After reaching 14 million once in 2022, subscribers plunged to 7.74 million in July 2023 due to the SIM Registration Act — meaning the subscriber time series has a break caused by the registration regime. Whenever pairing old and new figures, always mention this discontinuity.

Shift toward collaboration

• On July 2, 2026, DITO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PLDT and Smart on mutual infrastructure sharing, covering (1) shared use of macro cell-tower sites, (2) co-location of in-building systems (IBS), and (3) IRUs (indefeasible rights of use) on submarine cable capacity — all without any exchange of money
• In January 2024, DITO already partnered with Converge to share some fiber infrastructure
• In May 2026, DITO partnered with Indonesia's Telin for cross-border connectivity

注 Compared with 2022, when DITO filed an interconnection complaint against Globe and Smart with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), 2026 marks a shift from "confrontation to shared use."

1.5 New Entrants

• Bitstar Telecom Inc.: entered in July 2026 to offer enterprise fiber services under the Konektadong Pinoy Act's open-access framework, using an "asset-light" model that leases capacity from existing operators rather than building its own network, starting in Metro Manila (NCR) (source: BusinessMirror, July 6, 2026)
• Equinix: in November 2025, cited the law as one reason for entering the Philippine market

2. Adoption by the Numbers

2.1 Connections and Users

注(Added during the 2026-08-25 cross-check pass) The "117 million" figure above is the UN's 2026 estimate, whereas the Philippines' confirmed population is 112,729,484, from the 2024 census (officialized by Presidential Proclamation No. 973). Correction made during the 2026-08-26 source-hygiene pass — the date of Proclamation No. 973 is not "July 17, 2025" but "July 11, 2025." The original text on lawphil.net opens with "Proclamation No. 973, July 11, 2025," and closes noting that Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin signed it on behalf of President Marcos's authority on July 11, 2025. July 17 is the date the PSA/PCO publicized and reported it — not the date it was signed. 注The 2026-08-25 edit that changed "July 11 → July 17" was itself an error and has been reverted in this pass. (Source: lawphil.net, proc_973_2025.html, original text.) Penetration figures (117%, 83.8%, etc.) are calculated by DataReportal using the UN estimate as the denominator, so recalculating against the census figure shifts them by a few points. Since all of this cluster's other articles ("Geography and Administrative Divisions," etc.) use 112,729,484, never cite a penetration rate without stating which population figure is the denominator. (Corrected during the 2026-08-25 second-round cross-check: an earlier addition had been inserted in the middle of the table, breaking the display so that the "Registered SIMs" row was cut off from the table. The row has been restored inside the table, and this note moved to just after it.)

注 The mobile-connections figure (137 million) is "connections," not "users." A population ratio above 100% reflects the norm of carrying multiple SIMs per person. Don't misread it, in the Japanese sense of "the count exceeds the population, so the statistic must be wrong."

2.2 Connection Speed — What "Ranked #◯ in the World" Actually Means

Ookla Speedtest Global Index (as of March 2026) 注The primary source has not been reached (as of 2026-08-26). During the 2026-08-26 source-hygiene pass, the citation attributing this to "Wikipedia's country-comparison article" was removed. The original source is speedtest.net/global-index

注 The phrase "ranked #◯ in the world" refers, in Ookla's case, specifically to the country ranking by median download speed — not an overall ranking of quality, coverage, or price. The figures above could not be pulled directly from Ookla's official site (speedtest.net/global-index), so they are 注 unreached at the primary source (as of 2026-08-26). During the 2026-08-26 source-hygiene pass, the citation attributing this to an "aggregation via Wikipedia" was removed. For precise citations, re-verify against the original Speedtest Global Index (i.e., treat this figure as unconfirmed for safety).

Data points from other periods, for reference: - Ookla (August 2025): mobile median 59.64 Mbps, fixed 105.17 Mbps (via DataReportal) - DICT reported, based on Ookla data, that "the Philippines ranks 6th in ASEAN for speed, with Singapore first and Malaysia second" (February 2026, The Manila Times)

注 The claim that "the Philippines has the second-slowest internet in the world" — a description dating from around 2018 — still circulates in Japanese-language content online, but it reflects 2017–18 figures and diverges sharply from the current reality. Old and new figures should always be presented side by side.

2.3 Quality Rankings by Operator (Third-Party Measurements)

注 Which operator is "#1" changes depending on the measuring body (Ookla vs. Opensignal) and the metric (speed, perceived quality, latency, video). There is no single answer to "which is the fastest carrier in the Philippines."

3. Regulatory Framework — the Regulator and Key Laws

3.1 The NTC (National Telecommunications Commission)

• Established July 23, 1979, under Executive Order 546. The primary regulator for telecommunications, radio, broadcasting, and cable TV (marked its 47th anniversary in July 2026)
• In February 2026, it was reported to have exceeded its revenue target by more than 41% (The Manila Times)
• 注 This article was unable to confirm, from primary sources, the name of the NTC Commissioner as of August 2026. Any name cited should always be re-verified against the NTC's official website (unconfirmed)
• Its parent agency is the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology). The Secretary is Henry R. Aguda (confirmed current in multiple reports from November 2025 to August 2026)

Key legislative lineage:

3.2 The Konektadong Pinoy Act (RA 12234)

How it was passed — an unusual story

• Telecom operators submitted a position paper to Malacañang asking the President to veto the bill, but President Marcos neither signed it nor vetoed it, and it became law after 30 days by "lapsing into law" without a signature
• On August 25, 2025, Presidential Communications Office spokesperson Claire Castro announced that "the Konektadong Pinoy Bill has become law"
• 注 There is a discrepancy over the effective date. The statutory text (the Lawphil version) states it takes effect "15 days after publication in the Official Gazette (August 24, 2025)," while The Manila Times reported that "RA 12234 took effect on September 14." When citing a date, it is safest to say "passed in late August 2025, took effect in September," and to check the Official Gazette original if a precise date is required

Main provisions

IRR (implementing rules) and entry criteria

• The IRR was signed around November 5, 2025. DICT explained it would be "published no later than November 7, taking effect 15 days later." Roughly three months of drafting incorporated 50 position papers and a World Bank-supported workshop (BusinessMirror/The Manila Times, November 2025)
• DICT Secretary Aguda: telecom operators from 4 continents and 7 companies are projected to invest up to US$10.5 billion a year, with a minimum of US$1.5 billion per company per year. Targets presented include growing cell towers from 30,000 to 100,000 and expanding fiber coverage from 50% to nationwide (November 2025)
• 注 This "US$10.5 billion" and "7 companies" figure is a government projection, not a confirmed figure backed by contracts or construction. Company names have not been disclosed either — do not confuse this with actual results

Financial requirements for DTIP entry, as set by the NTC in February 2026:

• Across all categories, a debt-to-asset ratio of 70% or below is required
• Performance bonds are set at 10% of planned capex for the next 2 years, capped at ₱5 million

Points of controversy

注 It is a mistake to think "no franchise needed = anyone can freely run a telecom business." NTC registration, financial requirements, performance bonds, and cybersecurity certification within 2 years all remain conditions. Even the first actual new entrant (Bitstar) leases other operators' infrastructure rather than building its own network.

3.3 The SIM Registration Act (RA 11934) — Effects and Limits

What the law requires

Effects and limits

• Effects: registered SIMs reached 105.9 million (2023). Mass deactivation of unregistered SIMs cut DITO's subscriber count roughly in half, from 14 million to 7.74 million (July 2023)
• Limits: 注 reports throughout 2024–2025 continued to note that "fraudulent SMS remains rampant," and in September 2024 an IT expert argued that "a loophole in the registration law has actually increased cybercrime." In March 2025, the NTC began considering an amendment that would require in-person registration (comparable to a driver's license or NBI clearance)
• Globe opposes mandatory in-person registration, arguing that "the essence of universal access is being able to connect as cheaply and easily as possible" (statement from legal officer Froilan Castelo), citing concerns about rural residents' access and local governments' implementation capacity
• In March 2026, IMSI-catcher detectors were handed over to the NTC, CICC, PNP-CIDG, NBI, and Globe, and in June a training session on their operational use was conducted by Dr. Altaf Shaik of the Technical University of Berlin (to counter fraudulent SMS sent via fake base stations)

注 It is wrong to say "the SIM Registration Act ended fraudulent SMS." Fraud has instead migrated to fake base stations (IMSI catchers) and messaging apps. In February 2026, digital-rights groups called on messaging-app companies to cooperate with cybercrime investigations.

4. Infrastructure on the Ground

4.1 Cell Towers and Permitting — What "Red Tape" Actually Means

• Under EO 32 (2023), the required permits were consolidated into, in principle, three types: (1) a building permit from the Office of the Building Official (OBO), (2) where applicable, a height-clearance permit from the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), and (3) local community clearance
• Effects: Globe reported that permit processing improved 20% from 2022 through mid-2024, and it built over 4,000 cell towers and rolled out over 3 million FTTH lines from 2021 through H1 2024 (BusinessMirror, November 2024)
• Best-practice cases: Antipolo, Bacoor, Calamba, Marikina, and Navotas moved to one-stop processing; Mandaluyong, Manila, and Bacolod scrapped some certification requirements

注 What remains is not a "legal" problem but an "inconsistency between local governments." - Some local governments still have not adopted eBOSS (electronic one-stop shop) - Some local governments impose paperwork and fees beyond what the National Building Code requires - DILG Memorandum Circular 2025-099 has instructed local governments "not to impose additional fees on cell towers," but implementation remains uneven - In May 2026, CitizenWatch Philippines called on the DILG to "fold reform of permitting for electronic and telecom equipment into the ongoing revision of the National Building Code"

Number of cell towers

注 The 2021 breakdown is outdated. Per-operator cell-tower counts for 2026 could not be confirmed in this piece — unconfirmed. Note that the 2021 figures continue to be cited as-is as the basis for the general claim that "the Philippines has too few cell towers."

The physical risk to fiber cables (often overlooked)

• Globe experienced over 14,000 fiber-cable cuts in 2025 alone. Causes include weather disasters, accidents, and cable theft
• As a countermeasure, it has completed over 1,500 km of underground cabling. In August 2026, Globe proposed a nationwide unified underground-duct policy to the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) Digital Infrastructure sub-committee — covering national technical standards, a designated lead agency, clear maintenance responsibilities, and shared-use rules
• Globe SVP Joel Agustin: "Digital infrastructure is now as essential as roads or electricity"

4.2 Fiber and the National Broadband Plan / National Fiber Backbone

The core vehicle implementing the National Broadband Plan (drafted in 2017) is the National Fiber Backbone (NFB).

Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI): a 240 km corridor connecting Baler (Aurora province) to San Fernando (La Union province), with 2 landing stations and 4 relay stations. It has received a 2 Tbps capacity allocation from Meta (formerly Facebook) in exchange, of which DICT currently uses only 100 Gbps (Phase 1) — full utilization would represent a 20-fold increase in capacity (August 2025 / BusinessMirror)

The National Digital Connectivity Plan targets universal access by 2028. Internet connectivity at public schools exceeds 99% (including via satellite). DICT is requesting a 2027 budget of ₱18 billion (of which ₱2.7 billion is for e-government). The eGovPH app has recorded 61 million downloads, over 900 million transactions, and more than 1,300 services (August 2026 / The Manila Times)

4.3 Submarine Cables

International: the Philippines connects via multiple international submarine cables toward Hong Kong, Guam, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan (during the 2026-08-26 source-hygiene pass, the Wikipedia citation was removed. 注the primary source has not been reached, as of 2026-08-26. The original sources are the IR materials of PLDT, Globe, and DITO, along with the TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map). 注 Individual cable names and counts could not be confirmed with primary sources in this piece — unconfirmed.

Domestic — 2026's Biggest News

In August 2026, it was reported that PLDT, Globe, and Converge would jointly build a US$500 million domestic submarine cable system.

DICT Secretary Aguda: "The cable will be able to sense earthquake tremors and gather data in real time."

注 This is still an agreement at the planning stage — construction and permitting have not yet begun. Do not write that "the Philippines has completed its domestic submarine cable network."

4.4 Satellite — Starlink's Presence

注 "6th in the world" refers to a ranking by subscriber share, not by speed or penetration rate.

Globe × Starlink's Direct-to-Cell (D2C) service

• In January 2026, the partnership was announced with President Marcos in attendance — a system that lets existing handsets connect directly to "a base station in space"
• On June 29, 2026, the NTC granted a nationwide commercial license, making Globe the first operator in the Philippines to offer a commercial satellite-to-mobile direct service
• Early deployment: in areas affected by the M7.8 earthquake in Mindanao (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani), where it was used by over 150,000 people
• Pricing: prepaid/TM plans start at ₱99; Plan 1,499-and-up postpaid and Platinum plans carry no extra charge
• 注 Limitations: iOS devices are not supported, dual-SIM phones must set Globe as the default line, and data roaming may need to be enabled. Analysts note "intermittent connectivity and limited device compatibility," seeing limited near-term revenue contribution
• Globe is planning about US$1 billion in capex for full-year 2026, positioning satellite as a "connectivity differentiator" (May 2026)

5. The Digital Divide — Rural and Island Areas

• DICT Secretary Aguda (February 2026, Philippine Telecommunications Summit 2026): "in Metro Manila, roughly 7 out of 10 households have internet access, but much of the Visayas and Mindanao lags far behind." He framed this not as a "digital divide" but an "opportunity divide"
• CitizenWatch Philippines (Orlando Oxales): for the Konektadong Pinoy Act and the NDCP to work, resolving "slow local-government permitting and disputes over land and right-of-way" is essential. New ISP entry approvals should be tied to concrete commitments to serve GIDA (Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas) (February 2026)
• In February 2026, BusinessMirror also reported that "new ISPs should prioritize GIDA"
• In April 2026, DICT and NEA (National Electrification Administration) signed an agreement on connectivity for island communities
• Policy backstops include: the Free Public Internet Access Program (free public Wi-Fi) and satellite connectivity for schools

注 Competition policy (Konektadong Pinoy) tends to draw new entrants toward "urban, corporate, and wealthy-consumer markets," and if left unaddressed, rural areas risk being left behind. This "cream-skimming" concern sits at the center of the 2026 debate.

6. Cybersecurity

注 "CICC" stands for the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center. Japanese-language reporting sometimes translates it as a "cybersecurity agency," but a point of debate as of 2026 is that it is closer to a coordinating body than an independent, powerful enforcement agency.

7. What Japanese Business Practitioners Should Know

8. 注 Common Misconceptions (Full Summary)

1. 注 "Philippine internet is among the world's slowest" reflects the situation in 2017–18. As of March 2026, Ookla ranks it 51st for fixed and 54th for mobile, with a fixed median around 110 Mbps
2. 注 The "137 million" mobile figure is connections, not users (117% of population)
3. 注 "World's 6th-largest Starlink market" refers to subscriber-share ranking, not speed or penetration
4. 注 Under the Konektadong Pinoy Act, what became franchise-free is registration for data-transmission providers (DTIPs) — financial requirements, performance bonds, and cybersecurity certification remain. Foreign-ownership restrictions were not relaxed either
5. 注 Sources disagree on the law's effective date — some say "15 days after the August 24, 2025 Gazette publication," others say "September 14." Verify against the Official Gazette before stating a definitive date
6. 注 DICT's "7 companies, US$10.5 billion a year" figure is a projection, not a confirmed result. Company names are undisclosed
7. 注 DITO's subscriber trend has a break caused by mass deactivation under the SIM Registration Act (2023). Don't present the 14 million → 7.74 million → 17.1 million progression without explaining that discontinuity
8. 注 DITO's compliance with its license terms is unconfirmed — results of technical audits from 2024 onward could not be verified in public materials
9. 注 The per-operator cell-tower breakdown in circulation is from 2021 (total 24,614). 2026 figures are unconfirmed
10. 注 "The fastest telecom company" varies by measuring body and metric (Opensignal's 5G speed → DITO; Ookla's fixed → Converge; Ookla's video experience → Smart)
11. 注 The "60% rate cut" figure is the operator's own claim, not a government statistic
12. 注 As of August 2026, the name of the NTC Commissioner is unconfirmed in this piece. Verify with the NTC officially before citing a name

9. Key Sources (Institutions and Outlets)

日本語の詳細版: 分野「経済・産業」「フィリピンの通信インフラ ― 複占・第3事業者・Konektadong Pinoy法の現在地」（本サイト日本語版）。