Philippine telecom operator DITO has filed a case to control improper competition between two telecom giants!

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) announced Friday that it will open a preliminary investigation into anti-competition complaints filed by Dito Telecom (DITO) against Smart Communications and Globe Telecommunications.

The antitrust regulator said in a statement on the Dito Telecom complaint that it had "found reasonable grounds for opening a preliminary investigation".

Earlier this month, Dito Telecom filed a complaint with the Philippine Competition Commission over interconnection issues with Smart Corp. and Globe Corp., and accused the two companies of abusing their dominant position.

The antitrust agency said: "The Philippine Competition Commission's Enforcement Office (CEO) will investigate allegations of abuse of dominance in the complaint that may have violated Article 15 of the Philippine Competition Law (PCA). The enforcement office will also study whether there are other violations of the anti-competition provisions of the above laws."

It also noted: "As the investigation progresses, the Philippine Competition Commission will coordinate and consult with the National Telecommunications Commission and other relevant authorities on regulatory and technical issues."
The Competition Commission said they took complaints of anti-competitive behaviour "very seriously.

"without prejudging the findings of the enforcement office, the competition commission reminded those players who have strong market forces not only in the telecommunications industry but across industries that they have a duty to compete fairly and abide by the principles of competition," the department said."

Globe and Smart have fought back against Dito Telecom, accusing the newly formed major telecommunications company of paying fines for fraudulent calls or international simple resale (ISR) calls (identified as international long-distance but disguised as local calls), dialing through Dito Telecom's network and bypassing appropriate voice business channels.

But Dito Telecom denied that the international simple resale calls were made by the company, pointing out that they were fraudulent calls made by a third party.

The Globe company welcomed the Competition Commission inquiry. The media concerned has sought comment from Smart on the matter, but no comment has been received as of press time.

Globe said: "Although we have not received a copy of Dito Telecom's complaint with the Philippine Competition Commission, as a listed company, we believe that a fair and healthy competitive environment is necessary to promote consumer interests."

The telecommunications company, led by the Yayera Group, noted: "Specifically, Globe is pleased to have the opportunity to show the Competition Commission how Dito Telecom violated the terms and conditions of its interconnection agreement with us, which prompted us to submit a previous case to the Telecommunications Commission. Similarly, we reiterate our view that this is an obvious forum shopping case, because similar cases of the same problem are being investigated by the Telecommunications Commission."

In response to the Competition Commission's investigation, Dito Telecom's chief administrative officer, Adele Temano, said the telecom company welcomed "the Competition Commission's finding of reasonable reasons to advance Dito Telecom's complaints of Globe and Smart's abuse of dominance and destruction of competition."

"From the beginning, this case was not just a commercial case, but a question about the public interest of interconnection between telecom operators and the promotion of real competition in the industry," Tumano said."