CA denies plea of NOW Telecom to become 3rd major telco provider

Another setback was received by NOW Telecom Company Inc., which is vying to become the country’s third major telecommunications provider, after the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed with finality its last year’s decision denying the company’s plea to compel the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to comply with the orders issued by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) allowing it to operate a cellular mobile telephone service within specific frequency ranges.

Associate Justice Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Viordon, in a four-page resolution, she wrote, the CA’s Special Ninth Division denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Now Telecom seeking the reversal of its 21 September 2023 decision which denied its petition for mandamus filed against the NTC.

The CA said it found the motion for reconsideration (MR) to be a “mere rehash” of its previous arguments in its petition, which has already been addressed and ruled upon by the court.

It declared that the telecommunicatin firm failed to raise new issues, interpose new compelling arguments or present new credible evidence in its MR which would warrant a reconsideration or reversal of our decision.

This latest CA ruling comes shortly after the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the denial of NOW Telecom’s petition to halt the NTC from enforcing the provisions of its memorandum circular imposing certain qualifications and restrictions with respect to the entry of participants to become new major player (NMP) in the telecom industry.

Consequently, NOW Telecom was defeated by Mislatel Consortium, a partnership between Udenna Corporation and China Telecom, in the 2018 bid for new major player in the telecommunications industry.

Mislatel subsequently transformed into Dito Telecommunity Corp.

NOW Telecom in 2023, secured a US$2.15-million grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency for the development and implementation of a mobile and fixed wireless network using 5G technology.

The petition for mandamus before the CA centered on NOW Telecom’s plea to compel the NTC to adhere to the resolution and order of automatic approval (OAA) issued by ARTA.

The company filed the petition under Rule 65 of the Revised Rules of Court, seeking to enforce ARTA’s resolution and OAA both dated 1 March 2021.

ARTA documents declared NOW Telecom’s application for a provisional authority to operate in the frequency range of 1970 to 1980 megahertz (MHz), paired with 2160 to 2170 MHz and 3.6 to 3.8 gigahertz, as automatically approved by the operation of Republic Act (RA) 11032, also known as the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

But the CA maintained that the telecom company failed to show that it has a “clear and legal right” over the frequencies which NTC failed to assign.

The CA also explained that “it is the policy of the courts not to interfere with the discretionary executive acts of the executive branch unless there is a clear showing of grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”