Australia’s largest telecommunication company Telstra ends its talk with San Miguel Corporation for a planned joint telecom venture as both companies abandoned the plans to compete against the Philippines leading telecom firms. Both San Miguel and Telstra failed to reach an agreement as reported by the two companies.
According to San Miguel President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang, the two firms “worked hard to come up with an acceptable resolution to some issues,” but both agreed that they can no longer continue with the talks.
In a disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange, Telstra’s chief executive officer Andrew Penn said the two companies were unable to agree on commercial arrangements to proceed with the venture. “Despite an enormous amount of effort and goodwill on all sides, we were simply unable to come to commercial arrangements that would have enabled us to proceed,” Penn said.
San Miguel Corporation, which is considered as one of the country’s most influential company noted that they will pursue its plans to enter the telecom market in the Philippines despite the failed talks with Telstra.
“San Miguel Corp.’s entry in the telecom market will definitely be a game changer. When we launch, consumers will benefit from better, cheaper service,” said Ang. “We are not rushing. What’s important is that we give Filipinos a third and better choice that they have been deprived of for the longest time,” he added.
Once San Miguel launches with or without Telstra, it will compete with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom.