- Digital Telecommunications Philippines
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- For the company in Venezuela, see Corporación Digitel, C.A..
Digital Telecommunications Phils., Inc. 
Type Public (PSE: DGTL) Industry Communications Services Founded Manila, Philippines (1987) Headquarters Quezon City, Philippines Key people Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman
Orland Vea, President and CEO[1]Products Broadband Services
Cellular Telephony
Fixed-Line Telephony
Information Technology ServicesRevenue P1.784 billion PHP ( 
14%) (2004) [1]Employees 3,763 Website www.digitel.ph Digital Telecommunications Phils., Inc. (PSE: DGTL), commonly known as Digitel, is the second-largest fixed-line and the third-largest mobile telecommunications company in the Philippines. It is also the company that owns Sun Cellular, the Philippines's fastest-growing mobile phone service.
The company is owned by JG Summit Holdings, one of the country's largest conglomerates.
Contents
History
Digital Telecommunications Phils., Inc. was established in October 1987 and commenced commercial operations in January 1992.
In 1993, Digitel was awarded a 30-year exclusive contract by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to manage, operate, develop and rehabilitate certain telecommunications systems owned by the DOTC (collectively, the "DOTC System") and which are located in the provincial areas of Luzon under a Facilities Management Agreement (FMA). The FMA also provided for its conversion into a lease contract under certain terms and conditions agreed upon by both parties.
In accordance with the provisions of the FMA, Digitel and DOTC agreed to amend and convert the FMA into a Financial Lease Agreement (FLA). Under the FLA, Digitel was granted the exclusive right to lease, manage, maintain, operate, develop and eventually own the said DOTC facilities.
In February 1994, Digitel was granted a national franchise to provide domestic and international telecommunications services throughout the Philippines. In September 1994, Digitel was granted by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) a provisional authority to operate an international gateway facility (IGF). A provisional authority was also secured from the NTC in January 1995 to install, operate, maintain and develop telecommunications facilities in Regions 1 to 5 including the facilities currently leased from DOTC.
On August 7, 2000, Digitel was granted by the NTC a Provisional Authority (PA), authorizing it to construct, install, operate and maintain a Nationwide Cellular Mobile Telephone System (CMTS) using Global System for Mobile (GSM) and/or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology. Consequently, Digitel has been building a high-powered performance GSM/1800 network with a suite of applications and services.
On December 11, 2002, the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law, Republic Act No. 9180 granting Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. (DMPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Digitel, a franchise to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain wire and/or wireless telecommunications system throughout the Philippines.
In March 2003, DMPI commercially launched its wireless mobile services under the Sun Cellular brand. It pioneered the unprecedented 24/7 Call & Text Unlimited in October 2004, which propelled unparalleled growth in the wireless subscriber base giving the subscribers good value for their money.
On March 2011, Philippine Long Distance Telephone also called PLDT acquired 51.55% of Digitel's shares for 69.2 Billion Pesos. Because of this, the shares of Digitel and JG Summit in the PSE surges while PLDT's shares remained unchanged. In the deal, JG Summit will have a 12% share in PLDT.[2][3][4]
On October 26, 2011, NTC finalize the PLDT-Digitel deal. The majority holder of the company is the PLDT. As a result Manuel Pangilinan is the new Chairman of Digitel.
Subsidiaries
Digitel is divided into the following subsidiaries:
- Digitel Capital Philippines Ltd
- Digitel Information Technology Services
- Digitel Mobile Philippines (Sun Cellular)
Products
Digitel's fixed line services are offered under the MANGO, Choice, and DigiFonePal brands. Its cellular service is sold under the Sun Cellular brand, while its broadband Internet services are sold under the MANGO and NetVantage DSL brands. They also offers bundled services like a combined DSL and landline connection.
Ownership
The old ownership
- JG Summit Holdings: 47.45%
- PCD Nominee Corporation: 18.24% (12.69% Filipino, 5.55% foreign)
- AB Capital Investment Corporation: 12.51%
- Digitel executives: 1.21%
- Public stock: 20%
New Ownership
- PLDT: 51.55%
- Remaining Investors: 48.45%
Competition
Digitel's main competitors in the fixed-line and mobile markets are PLDT (PLDT subsidiary Smart Communications in the mobile market) and Globe Telecom.
PLDT buys Digitel
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) announced that it has completed the acquisition of Digital Telecommunications Philippines (“Digitel”) (PSE:DGTL) from JG Summit Holdings, Inc. (“JGS”) (PSE:JGS). PLDT now owns 51.55 percent equity stake of Digitel. Digitel has a hundred percent stake in Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc., whose brand name is Sun Cellular.
PLDT will announce a tender offer for all Digitel common stock at the P1.60 per Digital share, and offered either PLDT shares at P2,500 per share of cash, at the option of Digitel Shareholders. Assuming all of Digitel minority owners agree, the total transaction consideration would be PHP74.1 billion.
References
- http://propinoy.net/2011/03/29/pldt-acquires-sun-cellular/ PLDT acquires Sun Cellular
External links
Categories:- Companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange
- Telecommunications companies of the Philippines
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