The House approved on third reading HB 5177 seeking to renew for another 25 years the franchise of Infocom Communications Network Inc. (ICNI), now known as Now Telecom. The company is controlled by businessman Mel Velarde.
The bill expands the nature and scope of the franchise granted to ICNI to wireless telecommunications systems, including mobile, cellular, and fiber optics, among others.
The bill was authored by Rep. Ronald Cosalan (Lone District, Benguet) and Rep. Franz Alvarez (1st District, Palawan).
Cosalan said advancements in technology, more particularly in telecommunications, requires further amendment of the franchise to include fiber optics, satellite and wireless communication systems.
“Modernization and economic development of the country are highly dependent on available systems that telecommunication companies are forced to adopt and adapt such advancements in technology for the common good,” Cosalan said.
The bill provides that the grantee is mandated to secure from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity or the appropriate permits and licenses. The NTC, for its part, shall have the authority to regulate the construction and operation of its telecommunications system.
Source: http://newsbytes.ph/2017/04/10/house-renews-expands-franchise-of-now-telecom-as-wireless-operator/
(The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines – NOW Corp. has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the issuance of P1.5 billion worth of preferred shares.
The securities are redeemable convertible, non-participating, cumulative and non-voting peso-denominated preferred shares.
Net proceeds from the issue will be used by the company to support the expansion of its “Fiber-in-the-Air” broadband internet service, for research and development, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.
The company has tapped Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners for the transaction.
According to its profile, NOW is engaged in software systems and services, information technology manpower and resource augmentation, and in partnership with duly enfranchised telecom and cable TV companies, broadband and wireless cable TV services.
NOW is headed by its chairman, Thomas Aquino, former senior undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry and a senior fellow at the Center for Research and Communication, and its president and CEO, Mel Velarde, who has more than 20 years of experience in the technology, media and telecommunications sector.
LISTED information technology (IT) firm Now Corp. will install a new e-mail system for the Supreme Court, after it was awarded the P57.528 million project.
NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said the regulator would propose to the Department of Information and Communication Technology the bundling of frequencies for the third company in order to compete with the existing players.Cordoba said the government would bid out in bundle the 700 MHz, 2500-2700, 800 MHz and 3400-3500 MHz that were returned by PLDT and Globe, including the 3G frequencies of Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise.He said the terms of the bidding for the bundled frequencies would be finalized early next year.
Cordoba said five companies, including Mel Velarde’s Now Telecom and businessman Dennis Uy’s Converge ICT Solutions Inc., expressed interest to join the bidding.
A third potential player―San Miguel Corp.―backed out from challenging the duopoly of PLDT and Globe after its $1-billion joint venture with Telstra Corp. of Australia did not push through.
Instead of challenging the duopoly, San Miguel sold its telecom assets to PLDT and Globe for P70 billion.
NTC deputy commissioner Edgardo Cabarios earlier said the aspiring third player in the telecom market needed to invest at least P30 billion for the initial rollout of mobile telecom infrastructure.
Cabarios also said the new player should match the investments of PLDT and Globe to catch up with the service of the existing players.
Both PLDT and Globe were investing more than P40 billion a year to increase their network capacity in a bid to provide better services.
Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said “this industry is very difficult to penetrate because the barriers to entry are very expensive to overcome and because deployment of networks are very challenging due to local government issues.”
Cu cited the case of San Miguel, which early this year was on the verge of launching a telco business. However, following the sellout of San Miguel’s telco assets in late May, it was found that its existing telco infrastructure was barely adequate.
Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com/business/222833/5-firms-seek-globe-pldt-frequencies.html
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is planning to roll out in early 2017 a landmark auction for its store of valuable 4G and 3G frequencies,
saying there is mounting interest from smaller groups to become the country’s third telco player.
NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba told the Inquirer the auction—the first of its kind in the agency’s history—could count on assistance from the World Bank.
“Early next year, we can put this together,” Cordoba said, adding the final go-signal would come from the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
Cordoba said the final size and scope have yet to be determined. But what has been decided so far was that the auction would involve a full set of 3G and 4G spectrum assets.
Furthermore, the auction would only be open to new players, he said.
That means incumbent players PLDT and Globe Telecom, which already roughly control 78 percent of all available telco frequencies, would not be allowed to participate.
But Cordoba said several factors also had to be considered before NTC could proceed with the auction.
There was the Philippine Competition Commission’s legal row with Globe and PLDT over their joint acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunications unit on May 30.
The outcome of that case could affect telco frequencies that PLDT and Globe returned, including the 20 MHz of the coveted 700 MHz spectrum.
Cordoba said valuation was also an important factor since this could be the government’s first auction. He said the World Bank could come in to help in this area.
“The World Bank has approached us for the valuation, they want to be the consultant for that,” he said.
Cordoba said several groups have already sent letters to the NTC, expressing their interest in the frequency auction. He said one of the companies was Now Telecom.
But Now Telecom’s head Mel Velarde said the company should have been assigned mobile frequencies as early as 2006, given that it already had a cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS).
“We are awaiting for frequencies we deserve, which should have been given since 2006 when we got our CMTS license, which was renewed in 2015,” Velarde said. “Requiring us to bid for frequencies is illegal and corrupt practice.”