Ongpin-owned telecom bags permanent permit

TELECOMUNICATIONS Technologies Philippines Inc. (TTPI) has secured a permanent permit from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to operate landline service in areas in Metro Manila and Nothern Luzon. In a decision, the regulator issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for the Ongpin-owned telecom company to install, operate and maintain a local exchange carrier (LEC) system in the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Kalinga Apayao, Nueva Viscaya, Ifugao and Quirino and in National Capital Region-A, which includes the cities of Manila and Kalookan, as well as the municipality of Navotas. The NTC said the CPCN is coterminous with TTPI’s legislative franchise. In Metro Manila, TTPI interconnects with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Bayan Telecommunications Inc., Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (Digitel), Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Co., Bell Telecom and Globe Telecom Inc. In Northern Luzon, TTPI interconnects with PLDT and Digitel. The NTC said the CPCN is subject to the condition that TTPI should pay within the prescribed period annual supervision and regulation fees and all other fees and charges that the regulator may impose pursuant to existing laws, rules and regulations. The regulator also said that TTPI should start providing LEC service within the areas within 12 months from the date of its acceptance of its authority, unless the period is extended by the NTC. Earlier, the regulator extended TTPI’s permit to operate as inter-exchange carrier (IXC) in parts of Metro Manila and in Batanes, Cagayan Valley, Ifugao, Isabela, Kalinga, Apayao, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino. An IXC is a public telecommunications entity providing transmission and switching facilities that connect the networks of two telephone companies that are not located within the same numbering plan area, or if so located have no common or overlapping service area. The company intends to carry its own subscribers’ traffic from the major metropolitan centers in Visayas and Mindanao to other LEC operators. The company’s network within its service areas in the north eastern Luzon and Metro Manila will be linked primarily to Cebu and Cagayan de Oro through the National Digital Transmission Network (NDTN) of the Telecoms Infrastructure Corp. Philippines. The NDTN consists of 1,348 kilometers of submarine fiber optic systems, 852 kilometers of land cable and 56.2 kilometers of microwave radio. Its capacity is 2.5 gigabits per second using synchronous digital hierarchy multiplex technology.