NOW Telecom seeks review of P4-billion NTC fee assessment

NOW Corp. said its associate NOW Telecom Co., Inc. is contesting a P4.04-billion assessment by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for supervision and regulation fees, including penalties, citing discrepancies in the capital amounts used to compute the charges.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Tuesday, NOW Corp. said NOW Telecom received a demand letter from the NTC for the payment of the fees and penalties.

The company said the NTC issued the payment order on Sept. 30, but NOW Telecom has questioned the basis of the assessment.

“The request principally concerns discrepancies between the capital amounts reflected in NOW Telecom’s audited financial statements and those applied in the NTC’s assessment, particularly the treatment of Additional Paid-in Capital following changes in NOW Telecom’s capital structure,” NOW Corp. said.

In an Oct. 9 letter to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the NTC, NOW Telecom requested a review and recomputation of the assessments dating back to 2005.

“NOW Telecom has disputed the basis of the assessment and, through its letter dated Oct. 9, 2026, addressed to the DICT and the NTC, requested a year-by-year review, recomputation, and reconciliation of the SRF assessments beginning 2005,” the company said.

NOW Telecom also requested that collection of the amount be suspended pending the review and reconciliation.

NOW Corp. said it had no information on whether the request had been approved.

“NOW Corp. will evaluate relevant developments and their potential financial reporting implications in accordance with applicable accounting standards,” it said.

In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) En Banc denied NOW Corp.’s appeal and upheld a P1-million fine for a securities law violation involving market disclosures.

The case stemmed from a regulatory filing made by NOW Corp. in 2021 following reports that the government, through the NTC, was seeking to resolve NOW Telecom’s alleged P2.6-billion unpaid fees. — Ashley Erika O. Jose