NOW Telecom finally hurdles frequency woe
MORE than a decade after it sat on NOW Telecom Co.’s application for frequencies, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been directed by the Anti-red Tape Authority (Arta) to act on this matter immediately.
In an order issued March 1, Arta commanded the NTC to assign mobile frequencies, including 5G, to NOW Corp.’s telecom affiliate for its cellular mobile telephony service (CMTS) operation.
Arta instructed the NTC, through its commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, to urgently comply with the order and submit proof of compliance within three days from receipt of the order.
Under Section 10 of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act of 2018, if a government office or agency fails to approve or deny an applicant or request for issuance of license, permit, etc., within the prescribed processing time, then said application or request shall be deemed approved, provided that all required documents have been submitted and required fees and charged paid.
As early as 2005, the NTC in an order found NOW Telecom to be legally, technically, and financially qualified; hence, it granted its application for a CMTS Provisional Authority (PA). Despite this, however, it did not assign the latter’s needed frequencies.
Citing such provision of RA 11032, Arta said in its order that NOW Telecom’s application is "declared complete and is now deemed automatically approved by operation of law."
It added that NTC’S failure to act on this matter for 16 years is a violation of the law that aims to increase efficiency in public service by reducing processing time, eliminating red tape, simplifying requirements and procedures, and expediting both business and non-business transactions with the government.
Arta pointed out that NTC’S “obstinate refusal to assign frequencies to NOW Tel, and its action, coupled with the lapse of an inordinate period of time despite the existence of all the requirements, is a clear violation of RA 11032, and a form of manifest partiality against NOW Tel.”
Elated by such favorable ruling and award of frequencies from ARTA, NOW Telecom President and Chief Operations Officer Rene Rosales said the company—with these frequency assignments—now has the capacity to deliver vastly swift and better broadband services to Filipinos.
He said this makes the firm a formidable player in the telecom mobile industry.
NOW Telecom renewed in September 2020 its PA to install, operate, and maintain a nationwide mobile telecommunications system in the Philippines.
As a result of Arta’s order of automatic approval, it is assigned 220Mhz radio frequencies, including 5G frequencies, for mobile and fixed wireless by operation of law.