4:50 AM -- The merger of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Digitel (Sun Cellular Philippines ), the first and third mobile operators in the Philippines respectively, has led to a dramatic boost in the stock market capitalizations of the remaining two dominant players. (See PLDT Takes Control of Digitel.)

The Philippine Daily Inquirer notes that in the first day of share trading following the merger's completion, PLDT saw its stock rise by 17 percent while the country's second operator, Globe Telecom Inc. , recorded a 13 percent hike.

Why? "The market anticipates the effective end of the price wars that helped widen the base of mobile phone users in the country but considerably narrowed the telecoms’ profit margins," states the newspaper's opinion column.

Find out more about the dynamics of the Philippines market by checking out our recent report, Philippine Operators Focus on Data.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading