The Philippine Competition Commission approved the acquisition of Uber Philippines by Grab subject to a set of voluntary commitments that will lead to a final clearance in six to 12 months.
PCC chairman Arsenio Balisacan said the voluntary commitments that included service quality, fare transparency, pricing and the removal of “see destination” feature would ensure Grab’s sincerity in providing quality transport service to the riding public.
“The PCC’s commitment decision holds Grab to a standard as if Uber were present in the market. In effect, while Grab operates as a virtual monopolist, the commitments assure the public that quality and price levels that would prevail are those that had been when they still faced competition from Uber,” Balisacan said in a briefing Friday at PCC headquarters in Quezon City.
“Moreover, the commitments ensure that the merger will not make it more difficult for new players to enter and grow,” he added.
The conditional ruling encouraged Grab to bring back market averages for acceptance and cancellation rates to the pre-merger level and the same response time, if not faster to rider complaints.
The commission noted the acceptance rate dipped to 45 percent of June 2018 from the average of 65 percent, while the cancelation should be slightly lower than the pre-merger rate of 6 percent to 7 percent
Grab also committed to revise its receipt to show the fare breakdown per trip, including distance, fare surges, discounts, promo reductions and per-minute waiting charge.
Grab will be penalized an equivalent to 5 percent of Grab’s commissions, or up to P2 million, per breach of the commitment in the identified trips with extraordinary deviation that do not have sufficient justification.
