THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it is going to pursue the gathering of nearly P3.77 billion in outstanding supervision and regulation fee (SRF) liabilities, including penalties, from NOW Telecom Co., Inc. after the Supreme Court (SC) denied with finality the corporate’s motion for reconsideration.
In an announcement on Sunday, the NTC said the High Court denied NOW Telecom’s motion for reconsideration in a resolution dated April 21.
The NTC said the resolution affirmed its decision to disqualify NOW Telecom from the 3G frequency project for unpaid SRF and spectrum user fee (SUF).
The commission said it will collect NOW Telecom’s outstanding SRF liabilities, which reached P3.77 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025, including penalties.
Citing the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision, the NTC said NOW Telecom, formerly Next Mobile, Inc., had an unpaid SRF of P126.09 million and SUF of P9.67 million as of December 2005.
The dispute arose after NOW Telecom argued that additional paid-in capital from its debt-to-equity conversion shouldn’t have been included within the SRF computation.
“The Supreme Court held that when NOW Telecom converted its creditors’ liabilities to stock subscription, there was a corresponding increase in its capital stock in consideration for the extinguishment of the liability, which at the moment are regarded as paid stocks,” the NTC said.
The resolution also directed the immediate issuance of an entry of ultimate judgment within the consolidated cases involving NOW Telecom. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera