Charles Teves
A report by Fitch Solutions says that the “forceful termination” of ABS-CBN Corp and Sky Cable was “highly politicized” and it could possibly deter foreign investors from the Philippines.
“The forceful termination of ABS-CBN and Sky’s broadcasts are highly politicized, and clearly linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s opposition toward ABS-CBN,” said Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research in its report.
However, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the franchise renewal is strictly between ABS-CBN and Congress so the issue will not affect investments.
“We have not seen any direct result of a slowdown in investments because of the ABS-CBN issue,” Dominguez said in a press briefing.
He added that the Philippines just recently raised $2.3 billion in bonds during the apex of the issue which suggests investors “are very confident” in the Philippine economy.
“The regulator’s apparent ability to be influenced by the government continues to be a key impediment to foreign investor sentiment, and has also made the telecoms landscape difficult for both new entrants and existing players,” the report said.
“For instance, the slow formulation of its tower sharing policy, which was released in a draft version in May 2020 following a protracted period of discussions and negotiations, highlights the slow pace of instituting reforms, and has partially contributed to the delay of new telecoms entrant, Dito Telecommunity, in rolling out its commercial services,” it added.
ABS-CBN was issued a cease and desist order by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on May 5, halting broadcast operations. This was followed by another order from the NTC to Sky Cable Corp, an ABS-CBN subsidiary and one of the largest Philippine cable companies in the Philippines.
Sky Cable responded saying the shutdown of Sky Direct will negatively affect around 1.5 million direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers.
