NOW Telecom Inc. of businessman Mel Velarde asked the Supreme Court to order the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to re-compute what it called “erroneous” regulatory fees and penalties imposed on the company.
The company disputed the NTC’s computation that it owed P2.6 billion in spectrum regulatory fees (SRF) and associated charges.
“We are confident that this SRF issue will be finally resolved,” Velarde, NOW Group chairman, said in a statement.
“NOW Telecom continues to appeal to the Marcos administration to effect a level playing field, for NOW to compete head-on with China Telecom/DITO and Huawei-equipped Smart and Globe,” he said.
The company said in a 22-page comment filed before the Supreme Court dated Sept. 1, 2023 the “NTC’s computation of the SRF is erroneous” as the regulator based the SRF not on the subscribed and paid up capital of P1.39 billion, but on the P13.57 billion, which is the sum of the capital stock of P1.39 billion and the additional paid-in capital of P12.17 billion.
“APIC is not part of capital stock,” Now Telecom said, adding that the Department of Justice and the NTC declared that any increase in the amount of paid-in capital stock resulting from debt to equity conversion should not be included in the computation of SRF.
NOW Telecom also pointed out discrepancies in the NTC’s reference to a Commission on Audit (COA) letter, which claims over P3 billion in unresolved receivables spanning 14 years.
“The crucial COA letter was conspicuously absent from NTC’s official documents, replaced by correspondence with the Office of the Solicitor General, casting doubts on the authenticity of the claim,” it said.
NOW Telecom said that “the staggering amount imposed by the NTC as penalties and interests is not in consonance with the purpose of the law. As the term itself implies, the amount of the SRF collected is supposed to be commensurate to, and is simply intended to reimburse the NTC for the costs it incurs in supervising and regulating the telecommunications industry.”
It said the SRF is not a tax or a revenue raising measure.
The company asked the Supreme Court to order NTC to recompute the SRF by basing it on Now Telecom’s capital stock of P1.39 billion and set aside the regulator’s letters assessments dated July 5, 2025 and December 23, 2005.
NOW Telecom also asked the high tribunal to delete the imposition of any penalty and interest.