The National Telecommunications Commission prefers to auction off or sell the extra frequencies surrendered by the country’s top two telcos to a big group or joint venture.

NTC deputy commissioner Edgardo Cabarios said that only two companies have the license to operate as telcos (ABS-CBN unit and Now Corp.  ) but they need to form a joint venture so they can compete with the big guys.

Only Now Corp., formerly Next Mobile Inc., and ABS Convergence, a unit of ABS-CBN Corp., have the license to operate a cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS).

After the NTC approved PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc.’s co-use of the 700 megahertz spectrum, the two telcos surrendered a total of 85 megahertz excess frequency including 800 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz.

These will allow a third player to viably operate a mobile and broadband business in the country, Cabarios said.

Cabarios said the next NTC commissioner will decide on the spectrum allocation by July or August this year.

He said to maximize the use of available frequency, it is better for the spectrum to go to only one player or a joint venture company that can compete with the two incumbent telcos rather than give out the spectrum to several players.

“The best for this company is to join together and form a consortium. They may not be as big as these two (PLDT and Globe) but they can be big,” Cabarios said.

The bidding will be open to all telecom firms except PLDT and Globe and their affiliates.

BayanTel also has a CMTS license but is not qualified to join the bidding as it is now fully-owned by Globe.

Aside from the total of 85 MHz, the regulator will also include in the auction the third generation frequency of Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprisewhich should have  been bid out since 2012.

To compete with the two incumbent players, the new entrant must be able to build at least 2,000 to 3,000 base stations nationwide. PLDT has over 12,000 base stations while Globe has over 7,000.