#court of appeals

The Court of Appeals has ordered the National Telecommunications Commision (NTC) to comment on the petition to stop the bidding and awarding of the new 3rd Telco player. A petition to cease bidding was also previously filed by NOW Telecom, but the apallete court did not issue a temporary restraining order afterwards. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals ruled that Globe did not have enough grounds to grant a temporary restraining order against the Philippine Competition Commission in its mandate to review the purchase of San Miguel's telco assets to both Globe/PLDT. The undue haste exhibited by the parties to run to the courts to stop PCC's review is now confirmed as unjustified. The court's decision further serves to strengthen the PCC's resolve to closely scrutinize this transaction and examine any possible adverse effects on public welfare. PLDT also filed for a similar TRO last week but it will also likely to be rejected by the courts. In 2014, Smart, Sun and PLDT approached the Court of Appeals to stop the Php7 billion refund ordered by the NTC and reduce the rate of text messages to Php0.80. The Court of Appeals also struck down the order to issue a refund to customers. Read more in our articles including "Court of Appeals ordered NTC to comment on Third Telco bidding" and "Court rejects Globe's TRO request against PCC".