Will we ever see a third telco materialize?

If you haven’t heard, Telstra earlier today announced that their talks with San Miguel Corp. have broken down, dashing the hopes of many of the Australian company entering the PH, at least of the immediate future. Now looking at the uproar that many pinoys over the news, it’s important to keep in mind there’s still a big chance that there will still be a third telco in the PH this year.

San Miguel’s head honcho Ramon S. Ang said earlier this year that they will be launching their own telco service with or without Telstra. We’ve also heard reports from a few network engineer friends that SMC have already put up network infrastructure around Manila, which signifies their willingness to forge ahead with their plans.

Even without Telstra San Miguel will have to forge ahead with their plans for their telco arm, as not establishing a third telco will force them to forfeit the 700MHz spectrum that they’re currently holding on to. That spectrum is coveted by both Globe and Smart, and both telcos have already called for government intervention to distribute it since the spectrum penetrates deeper than other LTE spectrums and have a bigger capacity.

So keep your chin up – that third telco may still show up this year.