MANILA -- Davao tycoon Dennis Uy's Udenna Corp and Chelsea Logistics, together with China Telecom, said Wednesday they formed a consortium to bid for the Philippines' third telco slot.

The consortium, Mislatel, said it would leverage Udenna's supply chain knowledge, China Telecom's technologies and Chelsea's logistics and distribution network.

If chosen, Mislatel said its "immediate priority will be to prepare and to consolidate all the required resources in order to provide the best telecommunications services that Filipinos have been aspiring for."

The new player, which will challenge the dominance of PLDT Inc and Smart Communications, may be known as early as Wednesday when bids are opened at the National Telecommunications Commission office.

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China Telecom boasts of 281.6 million subscribers at the end of the first half of 2018, of which 217.3 million are on 3G. It's total base is nearly 3 times the Philippine population.

The Chinese carrier posted net income of 13.6 billion yuan (roughly $2 billion) in the January to June period.

A successful telecommunications foray will further expand Uy's footprint. In the last 2 years, he parlayed his fuel business, Phoenix Petroleum, into stakes in shipping firm 2GO, the Philippine operator of Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart, hospitality school Enderun and ISM Communications Corp.