NTC junks motion vs. Mislatel as the ‘provisional’ third telco

The National Telecommunications Communications-Selection Committee has denied a motion for reconsideration on the declaration of Mislatel Consortium as the provisional third telco player.

The motion was filed by Singson-led SEAR Telecommunications Group on Friday.

SEAR claimed that Mislatel committed “fraudulent and obstructive practices” as the provisional third telco has a joint venture agreement with Digiphil—a part of the SEAR group—on May 30, 2018. 

In its appeal, SEAR claimed that the agreement contains an “exclusivity” clause that “in the use of its frequencies, permits, licenses, or other authorization under its franchise, Mislatel is committed to deal only with Digiphil ...”

In a letter dated November 12, the committee said SEAR’s claim about “corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, and coercive practices” do not cover the relationships between and among third telco participants and among the parties to the binding bidding agreement.

“In addition, Digiphil is not even participant in the selection process, much less a member in the binding bidding agreement submitted by the movant,” it said.

“Finally, even granting that consortium member TierOne Communications International controls the equity of DigiPhil, the latter is a separate and distinct juridical personality ..."

On November 7, NTC declared Mislatel as the country’s “provisional” third telco. 

The consortium is made up of Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp., its subsidiary Chealsea Logistics Holdings Corp., Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. Inc., and state-owned China Telecommunications Corp.

Over the weekend, Mindanao Islamic Telephone said its contract with Digiphil was forged not for the purpose of bidding for the third telco slot.

“Moreover, the contract was nevertheless terminated on October 5, 2018,” it said.

Congress granted its franchise on April 19, 1998. The 25-year franchise will expire in 2023.

In a separate statement, SEAR slammed the NTC’s decision as a “rushed resolution.”

“Unfortunately, the NTC-SC, in a rushed resolution, denied our motion, washed its hands and simplistically regarded our grounds as a private dispute—one that it had no jurisdiction to resolve,” SEAR said.

“This ruling unmasks the NTC-SC’s insensitivity and total lack of appreciation of the level of diligence required in meticulously choosing a new NMP,” it added.

The Singson-led telco said the committee failed to appreciate that although the agreement is only between Mislatel and DigiPhil such is relevant in determining the former’s legal capacity to enter into a consortium with Udenna, Chelsea Logistics and China Telecom.

“Clearly, the NTC-SC completely missed the very point and purpose of the selection process–which is to choose a New Major Player that is fully qualified, undoubtedly eligible, and one that had no hindrance or limitation in its ability to participate in the bidding,” SEAR said.

“Intent of letting MISLATEL off the hook, the NTC-SC consciously adopted a myopic and limited scope of what it deems corrupt, fraudulent, collusive and coercive practices,” it said.

The committee said SEAR may seek recourse before the appropriate courts with proper jurisdiction to resolve the contractual disputes arising from the agreement between Mislatel and DigiPhil.

But SEAR is not buying that argument.

“Instead of purposively controlling the fate of its selection process, the NTC-SC opted to passively wait for the courts to rule on a clear violation of their own formulated rules,” it said.

“The selection of a New Major Player should not be rushed to the point of ignoring clear signs and seeds of legal complications; for in the end, a wrongly chosen NMP will imperil and waste the whole selection process, and cause great injury to the general public,” it added.

With quasi-judicial functions, the NTC is primarily responsible for regulating, supervising, adjudicating problems and disputes, and controlling the radio communications, telecommunications, and broadcast industries, as well as cable television facilities and services. —VDS, GMA News