Court Blocks Philippines 3G License Award

The Philippines telecoms regulator, the NTC has been ordered by a court of appeals to stop awarding 3G licenses. The ruling comes from an appeal filed by Bayan Telecommunications which had lost an earlier application for a 3G license.

"It is hereby declared a temporary restraining order enjoining the [NTC], its agents or anybody acting in its behalf, from resolving any application for and/or from awarding the one remaining 3G frequency bandwidth allowable for assignment to any applicant therefore or from executing or implementing any writ of execution, order, or resolution for the enforcement of such award, if any," said the court.

Four out of the five available 3G frequency bands have already been assigned by the regulator to Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Digital Mobile Philippines and Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises (cure).

Bayan had argued that the the process of awarding the licenses was flawed as the decision was based on a specific points based system, which the operator argued was not made clear in the tender documents. The regulator awarded the licenses to those operators who secured a high score on a 30-point scoring system.

Bayan is the largest wireless landline provider running on the CDMA platform in Philippines, and it is the majority owner of the second-largest long-distance backbone network.

On the web: Business Mirror - Bayan Telecommunications

Posted to the site on 12th December 2008