The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has rejected NOW Telecom Company Inc.'s (NOW Telecom) request to extend its permission to operate a nationwide mobile telecommunications system.
The NTC stated that NOW Telecom's temporary authorization is no longer valid due to various issues such as failure to meet regulatory requirements, underutilization of spectrum, and unpaid regulatory fees amounting to over PHP 3.57 billion.
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The NTC emphasized that previous decisions, dated September 14, 2020, and December 4, 2020, are final and prevent the company from making the same claims again. NOW Telecom's argument that it did not owe any outstanding supervision and regulation fees (SRF) and spectrum user fees (SUF) was dismissed by the NTC, citing Supreme Court rulings supporting the imposition of these fees.
As of December 31, 2024, NOW Telecom Company, Inc./ NEXT Mobile, Inc. still owe a total of PHP 3,578,211,841.22 in SRF, broken down into principal and penalties. The NTC also mentioned that the Supreme Court upheld NOW Telecom's disqualification from receiving 3G frequency allocation.
Despite NOW Telecom's claims, the company failed to pay the undisputed portion of its regulatory fees for 2022, 2023, and 2024. The NTC highlighted that NOW Telecom had agreed to conditions in its temporary authorization, stating that any violation of the set conditions would lead to the recall of assigned frequencies.
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