Lawyers want PLDT-Globe deal on 700 MHz spectrum revoked

Two lawyers have appealed for the Supreme Court (SC) to revoke the co-use agreement of major telecommunications players PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. over the 700 megahertz (MHz) frequency.

In a petition for mandamus received by the SC on Tuesday, October 23, lawyers Joseph Lemuel Baligod Baquiran and Ferdinand Tecson called on the SC to require the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to revoke the co-use agreement between the two major telcos.

According to their petition, the lawyers want both companies to be restrained from "utilizing and monopolizing" frequencies in the 700 MHz spectrum.

The lawyers also called on the SC to recall the frequencies and assign them in favor of the state, and later on make them available for telecommunication companies "best qualified."

This comes as the NTC in 2016 approved the use of the 700 MHz frequency by both PLDT mobile subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. and Globe.

The NTC letter of approval issued on May 27, 2016 allowed Globe to use the 703 to 720.5 and 758 to 775.5 MHz frequencies, and Smart to use the 720.5 to 738 and 775.5 to 793 MHz frequencies.

The companies earlier said that using the 700 Mhz spectrum would allow the industry to provide faster broadband and data speeds in a more cost-efficient manner.

The frequencies were previously held by San Miguel Corp. (SMC), and were acquired by PLDT and Globe in a P69-billion deal sealed in 2016.

The deal included P52.08 billion for a 100-percent equity interest in Vega Telecom Inc., and the assumption of around P17.02 billion in liabilities.

Vega Telecom owns controlling interests in Bell Telecommunication Philippines, Inc, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc, Cobaltpoint Telecommunication, Inc (formerly Extelcom), and Tori Spectrum Telecommunication, Inc (formerly Wi-Tribe), and Hi- Frequency Telecommunication, Inc.

The company is also the parent company of previously listed Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc. which held the 700 MHz frequencies.

The petition filed before the SC, however, questioned the constitutionality and the validity of the NTC's nod for the two major telcos to co-use frequencies under the 700 MHz spectrum due to supposedly illegal acts prior to the acquisition.

The lawyers said Liberty "continued to illegally hoard the said 700 MHz broadcast frequency" even when it was no longer engaged in the broadcasting industry.

"Worse, respondent NTC unlawfully neglected to recall the said frequencies conditionally and illegally assigned to respondent Liberty," they explained. — BM, GMA News