PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is transforming itself into a new generation communications company. 

To realize the transformation, the nation’s largest company by market value, would have to reorganize its management effectively by next year.

In line with this, president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno will devote more time to managing the fixed line business, which is in the midst of upgrading to an all-IP Next Generation Network (NGN).

Nazareno has been tasked to ensure the PLDT Group will focus on the critical strategic objective of business transformation, and to continue optimizing its combined strengths across the wireless, fixed, broadband, BPO and media/content businesses.

Nazareno, who is also the president and chief executive officer of Smart Communications Inc., will oversee the major organizational transitions necessary to achieve those transformational goals.

To demonstrate shareholder support to Nazareno and the changes he and his team will undertake, the CEO will be elected as a nonexecutive director to the board of First Pacific Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong.

To support Nazareno in discharging his responsibilities at Smart, the position of chief wireless adviser has been created. The new post has been designated to Orlando B. Vea, former president and founder of Smart.

He is currently president of MediaQuest Holdings Inc., the investment vehicle of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund.

Ray Espinosa remains president and CEO of ePLDT, which itself has just completed a realignment of its various businesses with improving prospects in the years ahead.

PLDT is simultaneously reengineering its business and technical processes, integrating the Group’s various backroom platforms, reorienting its workforce and, more importantly, reshaping the company’s corporate culture to emphasize customer focus and quality of service.

Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the reorganization will improve the Group’s profitability, among others.

“The reinvention of the PLDT Group—and of the fixed line business in particular—is fundamental to our overall effort to attain a higher level of convergence and integration within the Group.

Of course, our overarching goal is to make PLDT a truly world class company—in terms of profits, customer orientation, and quality of service” said Pangilinan.

The Group is also re-designing its products and services to make them more relevant to customers, who are growing in sophistication and looking for better value.

Effective January 1, 2008, all revenue generation/customer relationship initiatives in the fixed line business, will be consolidated under one group, customer sales and marketing group, which will serve three key customer segments, namely residential, corporate, and small and medium enterprises.

This Group will be headed by Ernesto R. Alberto, currently head of PLDT’s corporate business group.

A second group, customer service assurance group, will be created to oversee all customer fulfillment services including customer service and network engineering. This will be headed by Rolando Pena, currently head of network services at Smart.

The Group said this realignment is essential to achieve our goals of serving customer needs end-to-end and improving overall service quality.

A separate business transformation office, to be headed by Victorico P. Vargas, currently head of human resources group, will also be organized to oversee the overall change-management initiatives, including the smooth implementation of various ongoing initiatives, especially the NGN rollout.

To underscore the importance of this transformation process and its goals, George N. Lim, currently head of network services, and Menardo G. Jimenez Jr., now head of retail business group, have been tasked to assist Vargas.

The board approved the changes at a special board meeting held last Saturday. The organizational changes were proposed by senior management, and endorsed by Pangilinan.

The company said these initiatives reflect the results of an extensive review by senior management of the PLDT Group’s long-term plans, and how management should be appropriately organized to achieve the strategic goal of transforming itself into a new generation communications company.

LISTED information technology and outsourcing firm IPVG Corp. said it will wait until December 7 if US-based PeopleSupport Inc., a major player in the business process outsourcing industry, will accept its offer to buy them for $355 million in cash.

PLDT to be transformed into a ‘new firm’

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is transforming itself into a new generation communications company. 

BENPRES Holdings Corp. and Lopez Inc. have acquired $43 million worth of debt held by Asia Infrastructure Fund, where they are coobligators, in line with a continued program to restructure financing agreements and retire loans.

SONY Ericsson expands its lineup of phone products—two from the Walkman line and another from its popular K-series product range.

PHILIPPINE stocks Monday rose on expectation the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve may take steps to curb credit losses, helping avert recession in the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest overseas market for labor and goods.