Duterte approves Now Telecom’s 25-year franchise extension

Now Telecom Company Inc. has secured a 25-year extension of its Legislative franchise to operate as telecommunications company.

In a regulatory filing submitted by Now Telecom’s parent firm on Friday, Now Corp. said President Rodrigo Duterte, on February 22, signed into law Republic Act No. 10972, which extended Now Telecom's franchise to 2043.

Now Corp. is among the local players forming a consortium with a foreign partner to secure the so-called “third telco” slot, supposedly to disrupt competition in the industry dominated by PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc.

In a separate social media post, Now Corp. president and CEO Mel Velasco Velarde said that Now Telecom got a “tri-mega franchise”—not just a “mega telcom franchise.”

The franchise gives Now Telecom privileges similar to what Globe and PLDT got.

The 25-year franchise grants the company authority “construct, establish, operate and maintain mobile radio systems such as radio paging systems, cellular phone systems, personal communication network, and trunked radio systems.”

It is also allowed to provide “electronic communications services throughout the Philippines and between the Philippines and other countries and other territories, including outer space as public interest may warrant.” —VDS, GMA News