NOW Telecom Company, Inc., aiming to be the country’s fourth telecommunications firm, is looking into the possibility of listing its shares in a stock exchange by way of introduction—a method of going public without an initial stock offering.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, by NOW Telecom’s affiliate NOW Corporation, it was revealed that the telecom firm has recently appointed Unicapital Inc. as its Financial Advisor for a planned corporate restructuring.
Unicapital has also been tapped to be the Issue Manager and Financial Advisor for a planned listing by way of introduction (LBWI) in a stock exchange.
Together with its advisor, NOW Telecom is also assessing the suitability of listing its shares on the local bourse or within the region, given its medium-term business plans.
“We are moving forward with the corporate restructuring of NOW Telecom to take it to the next level,” NOW Group of Companies Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mel V. Velarde said.
He noted that, “NOW Corp. and NOW Telecom were the first to introduce 5G broadband speed of up to 2Gbps direct to our existing enterprise clients. Our next move is to extend the said service to the residential and consumer markets.”
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued to NOW Telecom the extension of its provisional authority (PA) to install, operate, and maintain a nationwide mobile telecommunications system.
In the NTC Order, the PA is subject to a number of conditions, foremost of which is the infusion of an additional capital of at least P1.9 billion based from the first two years capital expenditure of P6.3 billion in the submitted rollout plan and approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the increase in the authorized and paid-up capital.
The NTC also required NOW Telecom to accelerate the installation of broadband data service in the suburban and rural areas and that in each of the phases of project implementation, it shall strictly comply with the 70:30 ratio of urban to suburban and rural network rollout coverage.
“NTC took note of the financial support being extended by shareholder and publicly listed firm NOW Corp. to NOW Telecom as one of the key factors when it decided to brand the latter as the fourth telco,” NOW Corporation said.
Earlier, NOW Telecom revealed that it plans to spend $713 million for its five-year 5G fixed wireless access business plan. The company aims to deploy the 5G FWA network in the National Capital Region and offer a broadband plan of up to 10 gigabit per second service.
Of the $713 million, around $152 million will be used in the first three years, mostly to acquire new 5G radio equipment.