MANILA - PLDT said it could terminate service agreements with DITO Telecommunity if it refuses to pay over P430 million it owed the telco for building transmission facilities within 30 days.
PLDT earlier said DITO refused to pay the P430 million, even after the completion of building the facilities that the third telco requested.
"PLDT reserves all of its remedies in case DITO does not cure its latest major payment default within the applicable 30-day cure period, including the suspension or termination of services under the parties’ service agreement," PLDT said in a statement sent to the media late Sunday.
PLDT added that DITO has been "repeatedly delayed in paying PLDT the contracted milestone payments for the facilities in the hundreds of millions of pesos."
DITO refused to pay the remaining amount and instead used another "misleading " issue involving interconnection with Smart Communications.
PLDT said Smart has refused to augment DITO's bandwidth until the third telco pay the fines for illegal overseas calls. PLDT said this is an entirely separate issue with a separate company, which is its subsidiary Smart.
"This has nothing to do with DITO’s refusal to pay an overdue obligation to PLDT for transmission facilities that DITO has asked PLDT to build and which DITO has leased from PLDT and which, to repeat, DITO continues to use," it said.
In a separate statement, DITO said most of the matters cited by PLDT are already pending before the Philippine Competition Commission.
DITO filed a complaint with the PCC against giants Globe Telecom and Smart Communications for abuse of dominant position. [COMPLAINT https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/08/22/dito-files-complaint-vs-globe-smart-with-antitrust-body]
"These matters are a result of the anti competitive behavior and abuse of dominant position on the part of SMART. The PCC case filed is presently under preliminary inquiry," DITO said.
RELATED VIDEO: