The Philippines’ second largest operator Globe Telecom said it has completed integrating newly-acquired Bayantel’s network and billing systems with Globe’s.

Globe CEO Ernest Cu told BusinessWorld: “Bayantel is well integrated with Globe. The Globe plan is the Bayantel plan.”

Cu noted that Bayantel will not have a mobile brand of its own because “it’s too expensive to start a mobile brand” and the Globe brand is very strong. But he said for now Globe isn’t completely dropping the Bayantel brand and will make a decision on that later.

Globe said in October it plans to invest $200 million to $300 million over the next two years to upgrade Bayantel’s network, after spending $172 million to acquire the company.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) gave Globe approval in July to take a controlling interest in Bayantel, which had been under corporate rehabilitation since 2003.

Despite the quick integration, Cu said Bayantel subscribers won’t start to feel the impact on services until Q4 of next year, with higher broadband speeds and better stability.

Bayantel’s fixed broadband service was ranked the slowest in a test conducted in September by the NTC in Quezon City, BusinessWorld said.