Philippines telephone tokens

The earliest telephone operators in the Philippines were Eastern Extension Australasia, the favourite of the Spanish administration, and China Submarine Telegraph company, that wanted to link Manilla with London. China Submarine Telegraph was the property of Scottish telecom baron John Pender. Another Pender company, Telcon, supplied the cable. With the US conquest, the license to operate went to The Philippine Islands Telephone and Telegraph Company, a US-owned company that started operations in 1905 in Manila. In 1928, this company merged with the remaining local telegraph companies to form the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). PLDT issued the sole Philippino telephone token. In the second world war, the telephone infrastructure suffered very heavy damage. It took until 1953 to bring back service to pre-war levels.

After independence in 1964, the dominant share of PDLT equity was in the hands of General Telephone and Electric Corporation, a US based company. In 1967, GTE sold its interest in PLDT to the privately owned Philippines Telecommunications Investment Corporation. In the Marcos era, PLDT was nationalised in 1970. It became a state monopoly in 1981, although it held what amounted to a de facto monopoly long before. After the overthrow of Marcos, PLDT was re-privatised in 1986, but it remained a de facto monopoly. PLDT lost its monopoly position in 1995. In 2016, the company was re-named PLDT Inc. Hong Kong-based First Pacific Company Ltd. has a controlling interest in the company.

Philippines telephone tokens
	Filename	TPH1
	Side 1	Telephone and • PHIL. LONG DISTANCE • TELEPHONE CO.
	Side 2	1 and • GOOD FOR • LOCAL CALL and NO CASH VALUE
	Manufacture	brass
	Size (mm)	16.6
	Weight (grams)
	Notes	↑↑
	Source	Groenendijk
	Filename	TPH2
	Side 1	Public telephone and PLDT
	Side 2	Geometric pattern
	Manufacture	brass
	Size (mm)	25
	Weight (grams)
	Notes
	Source