The NTC declared NOW Telecom’s provisional authority as “inoperative.” 

In its unanimous decision, the NTC ruled that NOW Telecom had supposedly failed to comply with critical regulatory and operational requirements, including the rollout of infrastructure, severe underutilization of spectrum, and more than P3.57 billion in unpaid regulatory fees.

“[NOW Telecom’s] provisional authority to install, operate and maintain a nationwide mobile telecommunications system, offer services and to charge rates therefor, with the clarification that said authority is not specific to 3G is hereby deemed inoperative in view of its expiration/non-extension of its provisional authority,” the NTC said in its order. 

SRF

The NTC held that its earlier rulings—specifically those dated September 14, 2020, and December 4, 2020—had attained finality as it bars the company from reasserting the same claims.

It further dismissed NOW Telecom’s claims that it owed no outstanding supervision and regulation fees (SRF) and spectrum user fees (SUF) as it cited Supreme Court rulings that upheld the NTC’s imposition of said fees.

“As of 31 December 2024, NOW Telecom Company, Inc./ NEXT Mobile, Inc. still has an Outstanding SRF in the total amount of Php 3,578,211,841.22,” the NTC said, noting that it was broken down into P1.33 billion in principal and P2.24 billion in penalties.

The NTC also pointed out that the High Tribunal had affirmed NOW Telecom’s disqualification from 3G frequency allocation.

Contrary to its claims, NOW Telecom had failed to pay even the uncontested portion of its regulatory fees for 2022, 2023, and 2024, the NTC said. 

The company had earlier accepted a condition in its provisional authority that “any violation of the conditions set forth by the Commission shall automatically result in the recall of the frequencies assigned.”

Operationally, the NTC found NOW Telecom’s network rollout to be “grossly deficient.”

GMA News Online has reached out to NOW Telecom for comment on the matter, but it has yet to reply as of posting time.

Base stations

The NTC mentioned that of the 2,306 base stations it had committed to build under its 2017 Revised Rollout Plan, only six were installed—all in Metro Manila—and none were transmitting on the assigned frequency.

“After more than five years, the frequency band 3520-3540 MHz is used only in 6 out of 2,306 base stations (0.26%) or 3 out of 245 locations (1.22%),” the NTC said.

Further, the firm also failed to infuse the P1.9 billion in additional capital required within 18 months of the September 2020 order and did not meet key conditions of its provisional authority, including implementation of its network rollout.

“From the foregoing, it is beyond question that [NOW Telecom] had failed to comply with a significant number of conditions required by the Commission in its 14 September 2020 Order extending its Provisional Authority,” the NTC said.

“The same Order provides that ‘Failure of Applicant to comply with the above-stated conditions shall render the extension of its Provisional Authority null and void,’” it added.

Denied

The NTC also dismissed NOW Telecom’s references to the third telco selection process as “moot and irrelevant,” noting that DITO Telecommunity Corporation had already fulfilled all requirements under NTC Memorandum Circular No. 09-09-2018 as early as November 2024.

“It is evident that [NOW Telecom] failed to comply with multiple conditions under the 14 September 2020 Order in NTC Case No. 2005-115 which extended its CMTS Provisional Authority,” the NTC said.

“Accordingly, this Commission finds reasonable grounds to withhold the grant of a renewed authority from [NOW Telecom] and deny its Motion for Extension,” it added.

At the same time, the NTC reiterated that the radio frequency spectrum is “a scarce public resource that shall be administered in the public interest” and must be allocated to providers who use it efficiently and effectively.

Citing Republic Act No. 7925 and Commonwealth Act No. 146, as amended by Republic Act No. 11659, the NTC said it is empowered to suspend, revoke, or withhold certificates of public convenience when a provider fails to meet regulatory standards.

Now Telecom is a subsidiary of NOW Corp., a listed company that was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission last February for alleged “misleading disclosures.”