THE Supreme (SC) Court has ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and several other concerned parties to comment on the petition filed by two lawyers seeking to declare as invalid the “co-use agreement” between telecommunications giants PLDT Inc./Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecoms. The rivals’ deal covered the 700-megahertz (MHz) broadcast frequency and several sets of telecom frequencies previously awarded to San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) telecommunications unit, Liberty Broadcasting Network.
The court at its en banc session on Tuesday issued the order to comment within 10 days on the petition filed by lawyers Joseph Lemuel Baligod Baquiran and Ferdinand Tecson.
The court also deferred its ruling on the plea of the petitioners for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) seeking to enjoin PLDT/Smart and Globe from further using the 700-MHz broadcast frequency and the following telecom frequencies: 2540-2545 MHz, 2580-2595 MHz, 2535-2540 and 2565-2580 MHz.
Instead, the magistrates told the respondents—NTC, Philippine Competition Commission, Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. (now known as Tori Spectrum Telecom Inc.), Bell Telecommunications Inc., Globe Telecoms Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications Inc.—to submit their respective comments on the TRO plea.
In their petition, the lawyers also asked the court to order the NTC to revoke the agreement and to make the frequencies available to other players, as they insisted that their assignment to PLDT/Smart and Globe was invalid and unconstitutional.
The petitioners also asked the SC to prohibit the NTC from bidding out or awarding some frequencies returned by the two telecom giants “in consideration of the approval of the “co-use agreement” to any entity until the SC resolves with finality the constitutional and legal issues raised by the petitioners in this case.
The frequencies were acquired by PLDT/Smart and Globe last year after purchasing, on 50-50 basis, all the issued and outstanding shares of stock of SMC’s Vega Telecom for about P70 billion.
The petitioners noted, however, that under the legislative franchise given to Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. in 2012, the frequency was intended for television broadcasting and not for telecommunications.
Thus, they added, the acquisition by the two giant telco players in the country of Liberty’s frequencies should be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
“At the time of the said assignment of the broadcast frequency to BellTel in early-2015, it is a telecommunications entity authorized to engage solely in telecommunication business, and not broadcasting business and it had substantial foreign equity,” the petitioners noted.