The Philippines has announced that it will put the ride-sharing service provider Grab into the anti-competition watchlist after its acquisition of rival Uber’s Southeast Asia business (Photo: Channel NewsAsia)Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines has announced that it will put the ride-sharing serviceprovider Grab into the anti-competition watchlist after its acquisition ofrival Uber’s Southeast Asia business.
In a statement,the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said it will closely monitor the dealas the Grab-Uber acquisition is likely to have a far reaching impact on thepublic transport and transportation services.
The PCC said thedeal will put Grab in a virtual monopoly in the ride-sharing market, and itsreview will determine whether the transaction substantially reducescompetition. Philippine authorities have met with representatives of Grab andUber.
In Indonesia, theanti-monopoly agency said it cannot say yet whether they will investigate thedeal, as there are 30 days after the deal is finalised to assess it.
In a recentspeech, Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the countrywill work to ensure fair competition in car pooling services.
Malaysia said onApril 2 that it will put Grab on the anti-competition watchlist while Singapore announced earlierthat it is investigating the Grab-Uber deal.
As part of thedeal reached on March 26, Uber will take a 27.5 percent stake in Grab, markingits second exit in Asia.
The car poolingservice is expected to expand five-fold to 13.1 billion USD by 2025.
Though present inmore than 600 cities worldwide, Uber still faces challenges when facingscandals and protests from traditional taxi firms in both Asia and Europe.
According toGrab’s announcement to acquire Uber’s Southeast Asia operations, Grab willintegrate Uber’s ridesharing and food delivery business in the region intoGrab’s existing platform.
It will take overUber’s operations and assets in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia,Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Grab is one of themost frequently used O2O mobile platforms in 195 cities in Southeast Asia. Morethan 5 million people use the combined platform daily.-VNA
