Firm disputes ownership violation

MANILA, Philippines - Local mobile content provider Information Gateway, Inc. has denied violating the 40% ownership limit on utilities, saying it is a Filipino-owned company. In an answer submitted too the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) dated Oct. 6, the firm noted that its holding firm, Dragon Impact Assets Ltd., had sold Information Gateway to British Monstermob Group PLC in May. But the share purchase deal was rescinded, and Information Gateway shares are back in Filipino hands, it pointed out. Information Gateway further noted that even if it was a foreign owned company, it is not covered by the 40% foreign ownership cap on utility providers, since a value-added service provider is not a public utility. In August, the NTC ordered the firm to explain why its permit should not be canceled for being a company fully owned by foreigners. "There is nothing in the law and existing rules and regulations of the honorable commission that requires value-added service providers to comply with the nationality requirement," it said. It added that under the law, public utilities refer to businesses providing services or products, which include electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone and telegraph service. Information Gateway provides mobile phone content from its partners, which include Walt Disney Internet Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. and Sony Pictures Television International, to mobile phone subscribers of the country’s three mobile phone networks. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo, BusinessWorld