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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider NOWTEL coming in as 4th telco player?

NOWTEL coming in as 4th telco player?

Published Apr 6, 2022 01:52 pm

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The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) once again ruled in favor of automatic approval for NOW Telecom Company, Inc. (NOWTEL)'s cellular mobile service license and frequencies.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) granted NOWTEL with a Cellular Mobile Telephony System (CMTS) Provisional Authority (PA) seventeen years ago but refused to assign the frequecies the telco needed to operate.

The state regulators gave the telco the license in 2005, on the basis of the company's legal, technical, and financial qualifications.

However, "despite repeated pleadings", the NTC failed and continued to refuse to assign NOWTEL the frequencies needed to implement its CMTS PA. Thus, the ARTA case.

In its Resolution dated March 31, 2022, ARTA reiterated its 2021 resolution declaring NOWTEL’s application for the extension of its CMTS PA is complete and automatically approved.

In the same order, ARTA automatically approved the telco's Assignment of Frequencies for its Effectual Use.

The license allows NOWTEL to operate in the 220Mhz frequency range from 1970Mhz-1980Mhz paired with 2160Mhz to 2170Mhz and 3.6Ghz to 3.8Ghz, including 5G frequencies for mobile and fixed wireless.

The ARTA likewise "denied with finality" the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the NTC through Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba.

With the recent ARTA ruling, NOWTEL will be able to pursue its mobile broadband service aspirations, stymied for the past 17 years for lack of sufficient frequencies to operate.

NOWTEL was one of three holders of CMTS licenses, alongside Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom, before the government bidded out the third telco player license in 2018.

Related Tags

ARTA Inc. NOW Telecom Company
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