NOW Telecom Co. Inc. claimed on Monday that it is gearing up to provide mobile services in the Philippines after being granted an extension of its license to operate cellular networks, but the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) believes that it can only provide such services in niche markets.
Now Telecom President Rodolfo P. Pantoja said his group has upgraded its cellular mobile telephony system (CMTS) license by adding the authority to operate a nationwide wireless communications network for mobile telephony.
“We have been providing guaranteed broadband to enterprises including the government sector. We reiterate our belief that at present, there is an insufficiency in telecommunications facilities that can effectively address the needs for day-to-day real-time operations and at the same time provide disaster mitigation during time of emergencies,” he said.
This, he said, makes Now Telecom “one of only four companies in the Philippines that have CMTS licenses.”
Today, four companies have the same license: Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., Dito Telecommunity Corp. and ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.
For Edgardo V. Cabarios, NTC deputy commissioner, however, Now Telecom may find it hard to compete in the mobile space, which is now dominated by Smart and Globe, and with the entrance of Dito Telecommunity, the winner of the third telco auction last year.
“I don’t think so. There are so many players in the market in the first place, but when we talk about mobile there are only three major players. Now is authorized as a mobile network operator,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Now, he said, has limited radio spectrum allocated to it at the 3,500-megahertz (MHz) mid-band.
“They have the spectrum, but it’s only limited at 20 MHz. So, you really cannot compete, but you can be hitting a niche market,” Cabarios said.
Now Telecom executives had said that the group plans to offer 5G wireless broadband services in the Philippines both for homes and enterprises, signing a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine Fiber Optic Cable Network Ltd. for the deployment of a fiber-optic backbone.
“5G will pave the way for the offering of more complex applications and solutions. Moreover, cloud-based solutions and virtualization of network functions will allow the much quicker deployment of highly scalable, nimble and cost-effective networks,” Pantoja said.
Now Telecom is an affiliate of listed multimedia and communications technology company Now Corp., which previously wanted to join the auction for the third telco spot, but declined to participate due to legal tussles.