SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Claim: Mislatel already installed their submarine cable in preparation for their entry as the third telecommunications service in the country.
The Mislatel Consortium, which includes China Telecommunications Corporation, is the newly announced third telecommunications service provider in the Philippines that will compete with PLDT Inc and Globe Telecom.
The blog netizenspatrol.info posted the claim on November 21 with the headline, “JUST IN: MISLATEL NAGKABIT NA NG SUBMARINE CABLE GALING HONGKONG!.”
The post had been shared 24 times in different Facebook pages and groups. All of these accounted for a total of 1,400 interactions and 2,700,00 followers.
It also did not have text content, but rather an embedded video only.
Rating: FALSE
The facts: The Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and China Telecommunications Corp signed only a letter of intent on November 20.
The deal is between DICT and China Telecom, and not Mislatel. Also, China Telecom already has existing submarine cables, and the deal is to build a landing station to make use of the cables.
According to a November 21 BusinessWorld report, DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr noted that the signing of the letter of intent is “just one of the phases it will have to go through before they sign a memorandum of agreement.”
The landing station will use optical fiber technology to handle signal, digital data, and telephone and internet traffic. Reports also said the landing station will directly connect the Philippines to the United States and Hong Kong.
Rio also said that the deal will provide a government facility that will be open to all telco players. “This will make our internet connectivity very much faster and cheaper,” Rio said.
Photos of the letter-signing were published by the People’s Television Network on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the embedded YouTube video is from channel “TOKHANG TV” and was uploaded the same day as the signing. The video is a reuploaded version of a November 20 CNN Philippines TV report on Mislatel’s announcement as 3rd telco.
A reverse image search of the thumbnail used leads to different articles from english.vov.vn, soyacincau.com, and qatarliving.com about undersea cables and internet connectivity overseas.
TOKHANG TV’s videos have been used in 9 various hoaxes Rappler had checked such as President Rodrigo Duterte supposedly firing hundreds of cops in August.
The blog netizenspatrol.info is also a fairly new site. Its first post was on November 16. Since then, it has posted pro-administration and anti-opposition content with sensational headlines. It also does not carry bylines in its articles. Nor does the site contain a company profile, contact details, or details about its editorial board. — Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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