MISLATEL rolls out Cybersecurity Plan During Third Telco Senate Hearing
Photo From THEPHILBIZNEWS/Ariel G. Raule
Businessman Dennis Uy submitted during the Senate Third Hearing on Third Telco a copy of Mislatel’s roll-out plan, which includes a cybersecurity plan, ahead of its 90-day post-qualification deadline as the country’s new major player (NMP).
This after Sen. Grace Poe raised issues on cybersecurity risks arising from the listing of Chinese state-owned China Telecom Corp. Ltd. among the Mislatel consortium firms.
On the other hand, Sen. Miguel Zubiri maintained he sees no national security risk since almost everyone, including Smart and Globe, is using the technology of Huawei, a Chinese multinational telco.
He also stressed that it will be up to the consumer’s choice to subscribe to the services of Mislatel or not.
As far as the franchise was concerned, he lauded Mislatel for coming forward to the Senate to work on it unlike the 90% other congressional franchise-holders with numerous violations.
Furthermore, Uy reiterated the regularity of Mislatel’s bid in the NMP selection process as against the “oozing preferential treatment” allegation of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that was given to them due to Uy’s association with President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“Mislatel went through the process of preparing for the bid for almost a year. Kami po ay dumaan sa butas ng karayom hangga’t mapili po kami ng National Telecommunications Commission bilang new major player sa telecom sector,” said Uy.
“Mislatel will lose at least P25.7 billion from their performance bond, not to mention that we will confiscate the permits, frequencies and licenses issued to third telco,” said Department of Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio should Mislatel fail to deliver on its commitments or if it is found to have caused cyber security breaches that infringe on national security or sovereignty.