Pre-reform Colonial period Two private companies offered telecom services namely Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company which is a subsidiary of
Britain's Cable and Wireless.
The Spanish authorizes Eastern Extension to construct and operate the first submarine cable linking the Philippines and
Hong Kong. A telephone network was established in
Iloilo City in 1894. Jose de Olagier y Feliu requested permission from the Spanish Officials in the Philippines in 1892 to operate a telephone network covering the Spanish cities of
Iloilo,
Jaro, and the town of
Molo. Permission was granted for a 10-km radius telephone network with bidding for the public works done in Madrid and Manila. By May 1894, all necessary posts and ridges were installed. The telephone network in Iloilo City was operational by June 1, 1894. The Philippine Islands Telephone and Telegraph Company is American-owned which started operations in 1905 in the present-day
Metro Manila. In 1928, merged with Cebu, Panay, and Negros Telephone and Telegraph companies to form the
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). In 1932, the colonial Philippine congress granted PLDT a 50-year franchise to operate a national telephone system. The establishment of the Public Service Commission to regulate the industry as well as other utilities, meanwhile the Bureau of Posts was created to operate telegraph services nationwide.
Post-independence, 1946–1969 Initially, PLDT was managed by Americans, including the American company
General Telephone and Electric Corporation (GTE) as a major stockholder. However in March 1967, perhaps in anticipation of the end of
"parity rights" by 1974, GTE announced their intent to dispose of their 28% controlling interest in PLDT. On November 7, 1967, the Philippines Telecommunications Investment
Corporation (PTIC) was registered to buy GTE's controlling interest. Ramon
Cojuangco, who was part of one of the most influential clans in Philippine history, was a main incorporator. PTIC formally took control of PLDT on January 1, 1968. This led to the takeover of PLDT by the Filipinos, becoming a dominant player in telecommunications because of its authorization to operate a national network. Company officials however dispute that they were a monopoly because of the existence of a government telephone system (Republic Telephone Corporation or simply
ReTelCo), and over 60 provincial companies operating in the country. The Bureau of Telecommunications (BuTel) handled the government telephone system, which by 1975 had 34,643 operational telephone lines, or about 10.2% of the total telephone capacity of the country. This law, known as the Subscribers Investment Plan (SIP) required all PLDT subscribers to buy non-voting shares in the company. Mandatory investors held about 85% of the total company equity shares but had no actual power in controlling the company. PLDT also had access to international loans from the
World Bank. These loans assisted PLDT's dominance, and PLDT became the single largest private recipient of foreign loans to the Philippines. In 1981, a National Telecommunications Development Plan was released. A section of the plan recommended the integration of all private telephone companies under one monopoly. Marcos issued a presidential directive to Retelco, PLDT's main competitor in Metro Manila, to merge with PLDT. The merger was met with objection by the owners of Retelco, but the merger was continued because Marcos threatened to withdraw the companies' franchises. Smart was financially supported by
First Pacific. This partnership resulted in the rapid construction of Smart's network and more importantly, the subsidization of handsets. Smart was also authorized to offer both international gateway and cellular telephone services. At the end of 2005, Smart became the largest cellular operator in the Philippines with over 15.4 million subscribers. As the third player, it began its commercial operations on March 8, 2021. As of February 2023, Dito's total mobile subscriber base reached 13.1 million. ==Facts and figures==