Chinese operator China Telecom has signed a $5.4 billion deal to get involved in Mislatel, the Philippines third CSP.

Scott Bicheno

April 29, 2019

2 Min Read
China Telecom gets a piece of the Philippines' new third telco

Chinese operator China Telecom has signed a $5.4 billion deal to get involved in Mislatel, the Philippines third CSP.

The other stakeholders are Udenna Corporation and Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corporation but it’s not clear how much cash each is contributing to the enterprise. The full name of the new operator is Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company but presumably it will be available to the entire population of the Philippines.

“This is a historic occasion,” said Udenna Chairman Dennis Uy. “This is another step forward in realizing Udenna’s vision to improve the lives of Filipinos. Everything that we do is about making lives better not just for this generation, but for the next generation. And that is happening here. Thank you to our partners and to all for being a part of this journey.”

Isn’t that nice? There was no quote from a China Telecom person, although apparently its Chairman Ke Ruiwen turned up to the ceremonial signing that seems to be a prerequisite to actually doing stuff in that part of the world. Presumably he is no less committed to improving the lives of successive generations of Filipinos and any strategic benefit his company achieves as a result of bankrolling infrastructure projects outside of China is entirely incidental.

The big signing took place at the second belt and road forum for international cooperation event, which is China’s big international trade strategy and an opportunity for President Xi Jinping to get his photo taken shaking hands with other politicians. A lot of it seems to involve massive foreign direct investment, so this was certainly the right place to make such an announcement. Here’s an infographic summarising what it was all about.

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About the Author(s)

Scott Bicheno

As the Editorial Director of Telecoms.com, Scott oversees all editorial activity on the site and also manages the Telecoms.com Intelligence arm, which focuses on analysis and bespoke content.
Scott has been covering the mobile phone and broader technology industries for over ten years. Prior to Telecoms.com Scott was the primary smartphone specialist at industry analyst Strategy Analytics’. Before that Scott was a technology journalist, covering the PC and telecoms sectors from a business perspective.
Follow him @scottbicheno

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