A telecom company has secured an extension of its permit to operate mobile and broadband services nationwide from the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC).
NOW Telecom Co. Inc., a unit of NOW Corp., is one of four companies in the Philippines with cellular mobile telecom service (CMTS) license, the others are Smart Communications, Globe Telecom and DITO Telecommunity.
Edgardo Cabarios, NTC deputy commissioner, said NOW is an authorized mobile network operator but it does not have enough frequencies to compete with the three telecom players.
NOW has spectrum the 3500 GHz mid-ban but it is limited.
“(NOW) cannot really compete … (It’s only) hitting niche marketing.” Cabarios said.
NOW was granted an extension of its authority to install, operate and maintain a state-of-the-art, efficient, effective and economical telecommunications network, including mobile telecommunications, data and voice telecom network, trunked radio dispatch communications system, digital trunked radio system, and telecommunications operations.
The authority granted to NOW Telecom likewise includes the upgrade of its existing system to a nationwide wireless communications network which will provide mobile telephony communications and multimedia transmission capability to all cities and municipalities nationwide.
NOW is focused on serving the broadband data transmission requirement for local government units and national government agencies.
