Solicitor General asks Manila court to junk NOW Telecom plea stopping selection for country’s third telco player

November 5, 2018

The Office of the Solicitor General has asked a Manila court to dismiss a petition of businessman Mel Velarde's NOW Telecom Co. Inc. to stop the government's selection for the country's third telco player.

In its 32-page memorandum filed for the National Telecommunications Commission last October 31 but released Monday , Solicitor General Jose Calida asked Manila City RTC Branch 42 to deny the firm's bid for an injunction on the bidding process that starts on Nov.7.

Calida said the petition should be dismissed due to violation of forum shopping and failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Calida said the plea for injunction of NOW Telecom should be considered moot as the firm submitted to the NTC its position it wants the selection process to proceed.

NOW Telecom is among 10 companies and consortia that have participated in the bidding for the third telco. It paid P1-million participation fee. Its mother firm, Now Corporation, only had operating income of P6.3 million in 2017.

The other bidders are Chinese state-owned firm China Telecommunications Corp., Austrian firm Mobiltel Holdings GmBH, Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp., the joint venture of businessman Chavit Singson’s LSC Group of Companies and TierOne Communications, Norway’s Telenor Group, Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T), former congressman Felizardo Colambo's AMA Telecommunications, and two undisclosed companies. DMS