Vol. XXII, No. 69 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Thursday, October 30, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has ordered a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to stop clinging to its claim of exclusivity over telecommunication services at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
In a cease and desist order, the regulator also ordered PLDT-controlled Bonifacio Communications Corp. to honor a six-year-old circular declaring the business district a free zone, where all telecommunication companies can operate.
The NTC favored rival Globe Telecom, Inc. unit Innove Communications, Inc. by allowing it to compete with the dominant telephone carrier.
"The commission hereby orders [PLDT and Bonifacio Communications] to strictly comply with NTC Memorandum Circular 05-05-02 and to cease and desist from performing further acts that will prevent [Innove] from implementing and providing telecommunication service in the Fort Bonifacio Global City," it said.
Innove had sought the cease order from the regulator after Bonifacio Communications tried to block its entrance into the business district.
A PLDT spokesman yesterday said the company would contest the NTC order. "We will take action on this matter," PLDT Spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said in an interview.
"The exclusivity agreement between the Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. and PLDT is a matter of contracts between private parties... It is beyond the jurisdiction of the NTC," he said. "It’s a matter that should be resolved by the regular courts," he added.
The row started in September last year when Innove, in the course of installing fixed line voice and Internet services in the district’s eSquare, accidentally disconnected one of Bonifacio Communications’ network cables.
eSquare is mainly occupied by business process outsourcing companies that rely heavily on high-speed networks.
Innove claimed to have been stopped by PLDT from installing its equipment given the latter’s monopoly in Fort Bonifacio.
PLDT insists it had been given the exclusive right to install and maintain communication infrastructure in the area after it agreed to buy three-quarters of Bonifacio Communications from several government entities led by the Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC).
This prompted Innove to seek the cease order from the NTC and prevent the PLDT group from removing its equipment.
Innove argued that the exclusivity agreement between PLDT and the FBDC was illegal. Republic Act 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act, it said, provides that "no franchise, certificate or authorization shall be exclusive in character."
Last week, PLDT and Bonifacio Communications asked a Quezon City trial court to stop the NTC from enforcing a 2002 circular that declared Fort Bonifacio a free zone. Innove has opposed the motion. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo
