The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been asked to recall the radio frequencies assigned to NOW Telecom Company, Inc., to collect the required spectrum user fees (SUF), and to impose sanctions and penalties.
In a complaint, NTC was told that “NOW Telecom has been using its franchise and its state assigned frequency for many years now and in that span of time, there were no developments done outside Metro Manila much more any improvements made in Metro Manila.”
“Evidently, neither signal towers were installed nor physical office was established by NOW Telecom not only in the complainants' localities but also in their other areas of operation,” the complaint alleged.
The complaint was filed by Mirzilyn Abarabar, Marlowe Zarate and Maria Veronica Aquino. They said they are all Filipinos, taxpayers, and residents of Pangasinan. Lawyer Amado P. Aquino III assisted them in the filing of the complaint.
They alleged that under its franchise (Republic Act No. 10972), NOW Telecom is mandated “to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain lease, purchase, and carry on the business or providing telecommunications, including electronic communications and electronic communications services throughout the Philippines and between the Philippines and other countries....”
NOW Telecom, they claimed, was issued a PA “to install, operate and maintain trunked radio dispatch communication system, digital trunked radio system, mobile telecommunication network.”
“Complainants who are residing outside Metro Manila can attest to the truth that the Respondent (NOW Telecom) never operated in Pangasinan and Baguio City. For the longest time, the Complainants have been experiencing slow, inefficient, unreliable and poor internet connections in their province,” they told NTC.
They lamented that they “have suffered enough and deserve a better service or at least an alternative.”
“The entry of the Respondent in the telecommunication business should have given the Complainants hope considering that NOW Telecom has promised to provide accessible and efficient internet signal not only in Metro Manila but all over the Philippines. However, the Respondent failed to fulfil its promise to the public,” they said.
Citing data, the complainants said that contrary to its submitted projections to the NTC, NOW Telecom has installed only 10 stations in six sites out of the total 2,036 stations in 245 sites.
They alleged that based on its latest audited financial statement (AFS), NOW Telecom’s only source of income was actually derived from NOW Corporation, a publicly-listed company that does not possess a congressional franchise to operate a telecommunications service.
At the same time, they claimed that NOW Telecom reportedly evaded the payment of proper SUF depriving the government of funds needed to implement RA 10929, the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act.
They alleged that NOW Telecom avoided the payment of correct SUF by classifying equipment that it has not yet purchased, received and installed into “storage” and then only pays “minimal fees.”
“Payment of the required SUF is one of the conditions contained in practically all the CPCNs/Pas issued by the NTC as also required by RA 7925,” they said as they pointed out the mandates of the Public Telecommunications Policy of the Philippines.
It was not known immediately if the NTC has acted on the complaint or if NOW Telecom has answered the allegations hurled against it.