PLDT says Globe using Altimax frequencies 'illegally'

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said Wednesday competitor Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) is illegally using the frequency of a company it acquired in 2009 for its WiMax broadband Internet service. In a statement, PLDT head for regulatory and policy affairs lawyer Ray Espinosa called on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to recall the frequencies of Altimax Broadcasting leased to Globe. Under a 2000 provisional authority, Altimax was authorized to offer wireless broadcasting services similar to what wireless cable TV providers are offering the local market, PLDT pointed out. "These frequencies of Altimax Broadcasting should be returned and be made available to interested parties," Espinosa said. The revelation came during the NTC hearing on the PLDT-Digitel share-swap deal, where Engr. Emmanuel Estrada, Globe's head of network technologies strategy division, said that the company was using the frequencies for the deployment of its WiMax services in Luzon. Espinosa cited the 2010 financial statement of Altimax, which said that it was leasing its frequencies to Globe subsidiary Innove for P70 million in 2009 and P90 million in 2010. The PLDT official claimed that the provisional authority granted by the NTC to Altimax "does not allow the company to lease its frequencies without the approval of the Commission." PLDT's statement come on the heels of allegations by Globe that Smart Telecommunications Inc. — PLDT’s mobile telecommunications arm — is hoarding frequencies with its strategic acquisition of telcos with assigned frequencies, the latest of which is its bid to buy Sun Cellular operator Digitel. Globe, however, aside brushed the issue, saying PLDT is misleading the public and muddling the issues related to its Digital deal. In a statement, Globe pointed out that the Altimax deal is "clearly above board" with the NTC aware of it. Focus on legal issues "This is old news that PLDT simply wants to resurrect in view of their existing issues with their merger with Digitel," said Atty. Froilan M. Castelo, head of Globe corporate and legal services group. Castelo said PLDT should focus on the regulatory and legal upheavals before the authorities. "Foremost of [such issues] is that they are a non-Filipino corporation operating as a public utility and entering into a multi-billion transaction vested with public interest," Castelo stressed. The Supreme Court in June ruled that foreigners "unmistakably" control more than 64 percent of PLDT's common shares, after it defined the term "capital" found in the Constitution as referring only to common voting shares and not the total number of stocks issued by a company. Thus, foreign investors accounted for 64.27 percent of PLDT’s common shares, well above the 40 percent constitutional limit. While not yet final and executory, the SC decision was used by Globe in asking the NTC to stop the hearings on the PLDT-Digitel deal, which the industry regulator denied. The high court has decided to set oral arguments on PLDT's ownership case before it issues a final ruling. — VS, GMA News