Cancellation of Nextel license looms

Commissioner Eliseo M. Rio of the National Telecommunications Commission vowed the commission will act swiftly and judiciously on several cases filed against Nextel Communications, Inc.

In a dialogue with protesting officials and members of the Citizens Movement for Protection and Reform (CMPR) last Friday, Rio assured the NTC’s legal department is promptly studying the case.

"In fact, the Commission has already become a co-complainant in the case, causing the issuance of an immediate show cause order against Nextel to explain why its provisional authority should not be revoked," he told CMPR officials.

The NTC ordered Nextel to appear before the commission on the strength of the complaint (Administrative Case No. 2002-013) filed by telecoms lawyer Winston D. Abuyuan and by which the telecom industry watchdog also became a co-complainant.

"It appears that (Nextel) has committed offenses consisting of violations of certain provisions of the Constitution; the Public Service Act (Act 146), as amended; the Foreign Investment Act of 1991, as amended; the Rules and Regulations of the Commission, as well as conditions of its provisional authority," the NTC said in its two-page show cause order last Feb. 6.

More than a hundred members of the CMPR trooped to the NTC offices in Quezon City last Friday to denounce the alleged deliberate efforts of Nextel to violate the fundamental law of the land and the provisions of its authority to operate.

At the same time, the group also filed an omnibus motion before the NTC urging for the immediate cancellation of Nextel’s provisional authority.

The incident has prompted Rio to invite Thomas Esperanzate Jr. and Ramonit Moralidad, CMPR’s chairman and treasurer, respectively, to a dialogue. In the presence of the group’s lawyers, an NTC legal official and an administrative officer and consultants of CMPR’s counsels, Rio assured the group of NTC’s action on the case.

The group alleged that Nextel caused the transfer of its shares of stocks to its mother company, US-based Nextel International, Inc., through the use of dummy corporations. In the said transaction, Nextel incurred multi-million dollar loans, making Nextel International control more than 59 percent of the local company.

Nextel international has admitted in a document it submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it now controls more than 59 percent of the shars in Nextel Philippines, which is a violation of the Constitution that limits foreign equity in telecom firms to only 40 percent.

Setting aside the alleged Constitutional violation, Rio said NTC will quickly resolve the firm’s alleged violation of its provision authority, which mandates Nextel to seek the commission’s prior approval before it can transfer or sell its stocks and secure loans.