Philippines operator Globe Telecom is reportedly open to acquiring San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) telecoms subsidiaries, as it looks to gain a piece of the company’s 700MHz spectrum.

SMC, the country’s largest corporation by revenue, holds almost all of the 700MHz spectrum in the country, and last year took steps to consolidate its vast telecoms holdings. It has vowed to launch another mobile player in the country, and break the duopoly of Globe and PLDT, which account for 99 per cent of the country’s mobile connections.

Speaking to the Inquirer, Globe CEO Ernest Cu revealed the company was “open” to a deal with SMC, largely because its requests to secure an allocation of the lucrative spectrum have so far been ignored by the country’s regulators.

“Of course, the prospect of buying occurs every once in a while,” he said. “We are always open.”

Australia’s Telstra tried and failed to reach a commercial agreement with SMC last month, which could have seen the creation of a wireless joint venture between the companies, after failing to agree terms on possible equity investment.

Telstra had said it would invest up to $1 billion on the creation of a new operator.

Both Globe and rival PLDT have in recent months urged regulators to release a portion of 700MHz from SMC, insisting that the spectrum is “highly underutilised”, and should be reallocated to help them deliver faster speeds in a more cost efficient way.