MANILA (UPDATE) -- Share prices of telecom giants PLDT and Globe dropped in early morning trade, following President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to close and takeover the telco firms if services do not improve by December.

PLDT fell as much as 3.6 percent, while Globe dropped 2.99 percent in early morning trade. Third telco player, DITO meanwhile soared as much as 8.27 percent.

• Duterte threatens to shut, expropriate telcos if no improvement by December

President Rodrigo Duterte in his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, urged the duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom to improve their services or face "closure" or "expropriation."

"Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, better have that line cleared...If you are not ready to improve, I might just as well close all of you and we revert back to the line telephone at kukunin ko yan (I will take that) expropriate ko sa gobyerno (to the government), Duterte said.

Duterte said the telco giants should find ways to infuse more capital if money is the problem.

The President vowed to spend his last 2 years in office improving telecommunication services in the country with the help of Congress.

"Kung wala kayong pera umalis kayo rito (If you don't have money, you can leave). You give us half-cooked transactions, lousy service tapos ang tao nagbabayad (then the people will pay). Tell us now if you cannot improve on it…I have 2 years, the next two years will be spent improving the telecommunications in this country without you," he said.

PLDT is partly owned by Japan's NTT DoCoMo and HK-based First Pacific Co, while Globe is backed by Singapore's Singtel Group.

At the close of Tuesday's trade, PLDT managed to end 0.53 percent higher at P1,327 per share, while Globe closed 0.50 percent lower at P2,000 a piece.

DITO CME Holdings meanwhile soared 3.38 percent at P2.75 each.