Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company

Infobox_Company
company_name = Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company
company_
company_type = Public
company_slogan = The power of convergence
foundation = Manila, Philippines (1928)
location = Makati City, Philippines
key_people = Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman
Napoleon L. Nazareno, President and CEO
num_employees = 18,926
industry = Communications Services
products = Cellular Telephony
Fixed-Line Telephony
Information Technology Services
Satellite Communications
homepage = [http://www.pldt.com.ph www.pldt.com.ph]
revenue = P125.7 billion PHP (loss0.4%) (YE 2005)
net_income = P34.112 billion PHP (profit21.7%) (YE 2005) [http://www.pldt.com.ph/ir/annualreports/Annual_Report_2005___Main_Section.pdf]

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (Pse|TEL, Nyse|PHI), commonly known as PLDT, is the largest telecommunications company in the Philippines.

History

PLDT was established on November 28, 1928, by an Act of the Philippine Legislature and approved by then-Governor-General Henry L. Stimson by means of a merger of four telephone companies under common US ownership. Known as Act 3436, the bill granted PLDT a 50-year charter and the right to establish a Philippine telephone network linking major points nationwide. However, PLDT had to meet a 40-day deadline to start implementing the network, which would be implemented over a period of one to four years.

By the 1930s, PLDT had an expansive fixed-line network and for the first time linked the Philippines to the outside world via radiotelephone services connecting the Philippines to the United States and other parts of the world.

Telephone service in the Philippines was interrupted due to World War II. At the end of the war, the Philippines' communications infrastructure was in ruin. U.S. military authorities eventually handed over the remains of the communications infrastructure to PLDT in 1947, and with the help of massive U.S. aid to the Philippines during the 1940s and 1950s, PLDT recovered so quickly that its telephone subscribers outpaced that of pre-war levels by 1953.

On December 20, 1967, a group of Filipino entrepreneurs and businessmen led by Ramon Cojuangco took control of PLDT after buying its shares from the American telecommunications company GTE. The group took control of PLDT's management on January 1, 1968, with the election of Gregorio S. Licaros and Cojuangco as chairman and president of PLDT respectively. A few months later, PLDT's main office in Makati City (known today as the Ramon Cojuangco Building) was opened, and PLDT's expansion programs begin, hoping to bring reliable telephone services to the rural areas.

On July 18, 1968, Pilipino Telephone (Piltel) was incorporated in the Philippines with limited liability. Piltel's sole business at that time was providing fixed line telecommunications services in eight cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

During the 1970s, PLDT was nationalized by the government of then-President Ferdinand Marcos and in 1981, in furtherance of the then existing policy of the Philippine government to integrate the Philippine telecommunications industry, purchased substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Republic Telephone Company, becoming the country's telephone monopoly. However, after he was overthrown, the company was re-privatized. By 1995, with the passage of the Telecommunications Act and the subsequent deregulation of the Philippine telecommunications industry, the company had been de-monopolized.

In 1991, Smart Communications was incorporated, with its major shareholders at the time being certain Philippine companies and other affiliates of First Pacific (the parent company of PLDT), as well as NTT Communications Capital (UK) Limited. Both groups owned around 96.7% of the new company. In the same year, Piltel launched its cellular telephone services using Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) technology, which was subsequently upgraded to Digital AMPS later on.

In 1993, Piltel launched its paging services, and introduced digital cellular services using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology ion 1997.

On March 24, 2000, PLDT completed its share-swap acquisition of Smart, making Smart a 100%-owned PLDT subsidiary. In April 2000, Piltel launched a digital prepaid cellular service using the Global System for Mobile Communications ("GSM") platform of Smart. A few years later, PLDT transferred its ownership of Piltel to Smart, thereby consolidating all of PLDT's wireless operations under Smart.

ubsidiaries and affiliates

PLDT is divided into the following subsidiaries and affiliates, which are divided by the categories PLDT divides itself by.

The following are PLDT's subsidiaries and affiliates:

Fixed-Line:
*Clark Telecom
*Subic Telecom
*Smart-NTT Multimedia
*PLDT Global
**PLDT US
**PLDT US Retail
**PLDT UK
**PLDT HK
**PLDT HK 1528
**PLDT HK Ltd
**PLDT SG
**PLDT SG Retail Services
*Maranao Telephone

Wireless:
*Smart Communications
**Pilipino Telephone
**Smart Money Holdings Corporation
**i-Contacts Corporation
*Telesat Philippines|Telesat
*ACeS Philippines
*Mabuhay Satellite

Information and Communications Technology:
*ePLDT
**SPi Technologies
**Infocom Technologies
**mySecureSign
**Vocativ Systems
**Parlance Systems
**iPlus Intelligent Network
**Digital Paradise
**Stradcom International Holdings
**BayanTrade Dotcom

Wireless

: "See: Smart Communications"PLDT reported at the end of April 2008, that its mobile phone subscriber base reached more than 32 million, combining Smart and Talk N' Text subscribers, and its wireless service revenues grew 8% to P 22.5 billion. [ [http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20080506-134856/Smart-Talk-N-Text-subscribers-hit-32-million Inquirer.net, Smart, Talk N' Text subscribers hit 32 million] ]

Ownership

*First Pacific: 31%
*Nippon Telegraph and Telephone: 15%
*Fidelity Investments: 5%
*Other owners (includes government and public stock): 49%

Competition

PLDT's main competitors are Globe Telecom and Digitel in both the fixed-line and mobile (via Smart's competition with Globe and Sun Cellular) markets. Bayan Telecommunications (BayanTel) is also a major fixed-line competitor of PLDT.

ports

PLDT, through its Pilipino Telephone subsidiary, owns the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals of the Philippine Basketball Association. It previously owned, via a partnership with its Smart Telecommunications subsidiary and the Ateneo de Manila University (of which Panginilan is an alumnus), the Addict Mobile-Ateneo basketball team of the Philippine Basketball League.

External links

Complaints

* [http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=19095 A review on Smart Communications service]
* [http://www.esato.com/archive/t.php/t-121812,1.html Pasaload Complaint from a user]
* [http://www.txtpower.org/advisories/urgent-complaintrequest-re-smartbrosmartwifi TxtPower Complaint for Smart Bro, Smart Wifi]
* [http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/may/22/yehey/business/20070522bus4.html Smart Subscribers have most complaints-NTC]
* [http://www.smartwifi.org.ph/customer-complaint/consumer-group-to-ntc-stop-smart-bro-wireless-internet/ Consumer complaint to NTC to stop Smart Bro wireless Internet]
* [http://www.yugatech.com/blog/wifi/smart-wifi-subscribers-unite-to-email-flood-ntc/ Smart Wifi Subscribers unite to email-flood NTC]
* [http://www.newstin.com/us/philippine-long-distance-telephone Various news about PLDT]
* [http://phnix.net/notometering/ No to Metering website --part of the consumer reaction to PLDT's plan to impose mandatory landline metering]

Official

* [http://www.pldt.com.ph PLDT website]
* [http://www.smart.com.ph Smart Communications website]
* [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=PHI Yahoo! - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company Company Profile]
* [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/78433/PLDT-board-approves-buy-back-of-2-million-shares gmanews.tv/story, PLDT board approves buy back of 2 million shares]

References