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MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it welcomes the Supreme Court (SC)’s Resolution dated April 21 denying the motion for reconsideration with finality filed by NOW Telecom Company Inc. (NOW Telecom) and affirming the NTC decision to disqualify NOW Telecom from the 3G frequency assignment for unpaid Supervision and Regulation Fees (SRF) and Spectrum User Fee (SUF).
The same resolution also directed an entry of final judgment to be issued immediately in G.R. Nos. 188655, 189221 and 205603, which includes all the NOW Telecom (formerly Next Mobile Inc.) cases in the consolidated Decision dated November 13, 2023.
The 2023 decision sustained the NTC’s assessment and imposition of SRF and SUF, resulting from NOW Telecom’s debt-to-equity conversion finding no merit in NOW Telecom’s argument that the NTC should not have included its additional paid in capital from its debt-to-equity conversion as part of its Supervision and Regulation Fee. The SC held that when NOW Telecom converted its creditors’ liabilities to stock subscription, there was a corresponding increase in its capital stock in consideration for the extinguishment of the liability, which are now considered as paid stocks.
The SC also upheld NOW Telecom’s disqualification from 3G frequency assignment because of its refusal to pay its outstanding SUF and SRF.
“As of December 2005, Next Mobile had an unpaid Supervision and Regulation Fee of P126,094,195.67 and a Spectrum User Fee of P9,674,190.00. As the National Telecommunications Commission pointed out Next Mobile did not pay these fees even under protest. Next Mobile was, thus, correctly disqualified for non-payment of fees,” the SC declared in its decition.
The NTC said it will follow the Supreme Court’s direction and collect NOW Telecom’s outstanding SRF liabilities, which, as of September 30, 2025, has reached P3,769,408,931.66, including penalties. (Contributed story)
