NOW Telecom denies owing NTC P2.6B in regulatory fees

NOW Telecom Inc. on Tuesday denied the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) claims that it owes P2.6 billion in Spectrum Regulatory Fees (SRF) and associated charges.

In a statement, NOW Telecom said it “vehemently disputes” the NTC’s allegations that the telco owes the regulator billions of pesos in unsettled fees.

The telco made the statement on the heels of the Court of Appeal’s denial of its petition for mandamus in relation to its application for cellular mobile telephone service using specific frequency ranges.

Related to the case, the NTC is claiming that NOW Telecom to was non-compliant and was disqualified from the assignment of 3G frequency bands due to unpaid SRF and spectrum user fees (SUF) amounting to P2.6 billion.

NOW Telecom, however, pointed out the discrepancies in the NTC’s reference to a Commission on Audit (COA) letter, which claims over P3 billion in unresolved receivables spanning 14 years.

“The crucial COA Letter was conspicuously absent from NTC's official documents, replaced by correspondence with the Office of the Solicitor General, casting doubts on the authenticity of the claim,” the telco said.

Moreover, NOW Telecom said that contrary to the NTC’s presented figures, their paid-up capital from 2005 to 2016 was only P1.3 billion, “not the erroneously quoted P13,570,083,200” —which is the sum of the capital stock of P1.39 billion and the additional paid-in capital of P12.17 billion. 

“APIC is not part of capital stock," NOW Telecom said, noting that the Department of Justice and the NTC have declared that any increase in the amount of paid-in capital stock resulting from debt to equity conversion should not be included in the computation of SRF.

“These accurate figures are consistent with the audited financial statements being filed annually with both the NTC and Securities and Exchange Commission,” according to NOW Telecom.

In a 22-page comment filed before the Supreme Court, the telco is seeking for the re-computation of the SRF “by basing it only on the petitioner’s capital stock of P1,398,200,000” and “deleting the imposition of any penalty and interest.”

“Adding to the contradictions, the NTC issued a certificate in 2018 to NOW Telecom certifying they had zero unresolved liabilities, directly opposing the recent claims,” it said.

“NOW Telecom has persistently flagged issues with the NTC's calculation methods over the years. Their concerns are accentuated by the NTC's continued reliance on an outdated 2005 letter and overlooking NOW's consistently updated financial data,” it added.

GMA News Online has reached out to the NTC for its comment in the matter, but no response yet has been received as of posting time.

“We are confident that this SRF issue will be finally resolved. NOW Telecom continues to appeal to the Marcos administration to effect a level playing field, for NOW to compete head-on…,” said Mel Velarde, NOW Group chairperson. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News