Co Distance Long Phone

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PSE: TEL, NYSE: PHI), commonly known as PLDT , is the largest telecommunications company in the Philippines. PLDT is also the largest company in the Philippines, ranked 1138th in the April 2009 update of Forbes' Global 2000 list.

History

During the time of Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the Spaniards organized a telephone company that opened in 1890. 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.

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.

On March 24, 2000, PLDT completed its share-swap acquisition of Smart, making Smart a 100%-owned PLDT subsidiary.

On November 29, 2008 celebrate 80 years and the slogan is We're Changing Lives live on Eat Bulaga in Saturday.

Subsidiaries and affiliates

The following are PLDT's wholly-owned subsidiaries and affiliates (as indicated), divided according to its self-defined categories:

Wireless:

• Telesat Philippines
• Smart Communications
  • Smart Broadband
  • SmartConnect Holdings (Singapore)
  • SmartConnect Global (Singapore)
  • 3rd Brand (Singapore, 85%-owned affiliate)
  • I-Contacts Corporation
  • Wolfpac Mobile
  • Wireless Card
  • Smarthub
  • Ph Communications Holdings
  • Francom Holdings
    • CURE d/b/a Red Mobile
  • Pilipino Telephone Corporation (99.5%-owned subsidiary via Smart Communications)
• ACeS Philippines
• Mabuhay Satellite (67%-owned affiliate)

Fixed-Line:

• PLDT Clark Telecom
• PLDT 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
• PLDT-Maratel (97.8%-owned affiliate)
• Bonifacio Communications Corporation (75%-owned affiliate)
• PLDT-PhilCom Corporation (100%-owned affiliate)

Information and Communications Technology:

• ePLDT
  • ePLDT Ventus
  • Vocativ Systems
  • Parlance Systems
  • SPi Technologies
  • Infocom Technologies (99.6%-owned affiliate)
  • Digital Paradise Thailand (87.5%-owned affiliate in Thailand)
  • netGames (80%-owned affiliate)
  • Digital Paradise (75%-owned affiliate)
  • Level Up! (60%-owned affiliate)

Wireless

PLDT reported that as of December 31, 2009, its mobile phone subscriber base reached 41,328,641 users, combining subscribers using Smart, Talk 'N Text, and Red Mobile.

Ownership

Companies owning shares in PLDT

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

PLDT's shares in other companies

Twenty percent of Meralco shall be sold to PLDT, according to the Lopez family who owns the Philippine's largest electric distributor on March 13, 2009. The deal is set to be done in the third quarter of 2009 with the cost of 20 billion pesos. The said action was done to prevent the hostile takeover of San Miguel Corporation, which already owns a large portion of Meralco.

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.

Sports

See also: Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters

PLDT, via its 99.5%-owned subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Corporation, owns the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters Philippine Basketball Association team.

PLDT also previously owned, via a partnership with its wholly-owned Smart Communications 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

• A review on Smart Communications service
• Pasaload Complaint from a user
• TxtPower Complaint for Smart Bro, Smart Wifi
• Smart Subscribers have most complaints-NTC
• Consumer complaint to NTC to stop Smart Bro wireless Internet
• Smart Wifi Subscribers unite to email-flood NTC
• Various news about PLDT
• No to Metering website --part of the consumer reaction to PLDT's plan to impose mandatory landline metering

Official

• PLDT website
• Smart Communications website
• Yahoo! - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company Company Profile
• gmanews.tv/story, PLDT board approves buy back of 2 million shares

References

1. ^ pldt.com, 3rd Brand ownership down to 85%, page F-10
2. ^ pldt.com, Piltel ownership percentage now increased to 99.5%, page F-10
3. ^ pldt.com, ACeS Philippines now a wholly-owned affiliate (when combining direct and indirect ownership), page F-10
4. ^ pldt.com, PLDT-Maratel ownership increased to 97.8%, page F-10
5. ^ pldt.com, PLDT's Quarterly Report, page 7 of 42
6. ^ Sanchez-Lacson, Elizabeth; Dumlao, Doris. Lopezes to sell 20% of Meralco to PLDT , Philippine Daily Inquirer

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