PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Company may drop its bid to acquire Digitel if the National Telecommunications Commission fails to come up with a decision on the share purchase agreement by August 26.

“We’ve extended that until 26 of August and kung wala pang mangyari siguro we will just call it a day nalang... So, we just move on and Digitel can move on and all of these hullabaloo will just die down. Hindi na pag-uusapan ang frequency, interconnection charges, IP peering tapos na lahat ng issues nun, kung wala na ang agreement ano pang paguusapan natin,” Pangilinan said.

PLDT wants to buy a 51.55 percent stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. held by JG Summit Holdings Inc. for P69.2 billion. PLDT had planned to close the transaction in June, but postponed it twice after regulators extended the public hearing on the matter.

“I’m just reflecting my view. I can’t speak for JG Summit, but yun lang ang personal feeling ko na siguro masyado nang napakaraming gusot at napakasalimuot na ito. Look kung hindi pwede, hindi pwede. Let’s move on,” Pangilinan said.

He said PLDT and Digitel will not die if the transaction does not push through, adding that the Gokongweis can sell to another group if their agreement falls through.

Digitel earlier said second-ranked Globe Telecom had offered to buy the Gokongweis’ stake. After PLDT and JG Summit struck an agreement, Globe raised a number of issues, including high interconnection charges, the need for an Internet Protocol peering, and the concentration of frequencies.

Pangilinan had said the regulatory process, which started in early April, was taknig longer than PLDT anticipated.

The NTC is expected to issue a decision on the transaction by the middle of the month.

Besides Globe, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc., Sealand Telecommunications Inc. and consumer groups TXTPower and TXTMate opposed the PLDT-Digitel deal because it could hurt competition and consumers.

State-run Philippine Institute for Development Studies had said PLDT’s takeover of Digitel may affect competition because of high entry barriers and the absence of effective competition.