SC affirms orders disqualifying 4 telecom firms from engaging in 3G mobile service

The Supreme Court has upheld the orders of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) which disqualified Next Mobile, Inc., now operating as NOW Telecom, and three other companies in their applications for a thirdgeneration mobile communications technology or 3G radio frequency.

In a decision written by Senior Associate Justice Marivic M.V.F. Leonen, the SC denied the petitions challenging the NTC’S consolidated orders dated Dec. 28, 2005 and Aug. 28, 2008 on the disqualification of Next Mobile and other firms.

The three other disqualified telecommunications firms were those of the then Lopez-owned Bayan Telecommunications (Bayantel), Multi-media Telephony, Inc. (MTI), and AZ Communications, Inc.

At the time, the NTC had already awarded four of five 3G frequency slots to Smart Communications, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc., Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc., and Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise or CURE.

As of Nov. 19, 2018, the NTC named the consortium of Udenna Corporation, Chelsea Holdings, and China Telecom — known as MISLATEL (Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc.) — and later as DITO Telecommunity Corporation as the new major player.

The SC’S decision, made public last April 4, also granted the NTC’S petition which challenged the 2010 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA), which virtually ordered the telecommunications regulatory body to allocate the fifth and final 3G slot to Bayantel.

The SC said that “Republic Act No. 7925, or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, declares as part of its national policy, that radio frequency spectrum as ‘a scarce public resource’ shall only be allocated ‘to service providers who will use it efficiently and effectively to meet public demand for telecommunications service and may avail of new and cost-effective technologies in the use of methods for its utilization.’"