At least 12 companies are reportedly interested in competing to become the Philippines' third telco, including five local companies and seven from overseas.
China Telecom, Japan's KDDI, South Korea's KT and LG Uplus and US operator AT&T have all expressed an interest in participating in the beauty contest style selection process for the slot, GMA News Onlinereported, citing comments from acting telecoms department secretary Eliseo Rio Jr.
Meanwhile local ISPs PT&T, Now, Converge, Transpacific-Broadband, and TiereOne are also interested in taking part.
Any overseas companies seeking to bid for the license will need to partner or form a joint venture with at least one local company due to constitutional rules limiting foreign ownership of telecoms companies.
Rio stressed that it is too early to tell which of the potential contenders will actually participate in the process until they purchase bid documents.
While the terms of the selection process are still being worked out, Rio also said that the government aims to complete the process and name the market's third telco by the end of the year.
But if enough potential market entrants ask for more time to submit their bids, the government will consider asking the public if they are willing to wait another six months, Rio said. But he noted that this is unlikely as the public is getting impatient due to delays in the selection process.