MANILA, Philippines - The fifth and last 3G or broad spectrum slot having been unassigned for the last five years, the government has lost over P300 million in spectrum user fees, so it is important to award the last slot as soon as possible.

This was stated by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) over the weekend, adopting an estimated P65 million in yearly spectrum users’ fee (SUF) as basis for their calculation.

The statement appeared to be in response to some criticisms from holders of the slots already awarded, after the commission said rules governing the award of the last slot will exclude holders of slots previously assigned.

“The NTC deemed it necessary to expedite awarding of the last 3G slot as nonusage of said frequency consequently deprives prospective subscribers of easier access to services it can provide.  The government has lost approximately P300 million in potential income through spectrum user fees, at the current rate of P65 million a year, due to the nonassignment of the last 3G slot for the past five years,” a NTC statement said. The SUF is collected from cellular firms, providers of broadband wireless access services, trunk radio operators and others with assigned frequency bandwidth. For 3G service, the fees that operators pay depend on how wide the bandwidth allocated. For 2009, the NTC collected close to P1 billion in SUF payment.

NTC Deputy Commissioner Douglas Mallilin said existing 3G firms paid around P310 million in SUF in January last year.  As they build their 3G subscriber base, the NTC is requiring them to increase their SUF depending on their actual number of subscribers. If the firms were able to register more than 4 million 3G subscribers each, they will pay an additional P2 million in SUF for every 100,000 additional subscribers.

For the remaining 3G slot, the NTC proposes that the minimum bid price shall be P65 million for the paired 10 megahertz (MHz) which is in the frequency band 1965–1975MHz/2155–2165MHz or 1890- 1900MHz/1970-1980MHz.

The NTC said it would seriously study comments expressed by current 3G stakeholder Globe Telecom Inc., Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. (DMPI) in last week’s public hearing on their exclusion from the proposed bidding, as well as other comments and concerns raised by the other stakeholders.

Globe said the proposed rules were apparently meant to favor only one carrier. Globe holds 10 MHz of 3G frequency. It has put up 2,500 base stations and has signed up 1.5 million active 3G users. It has applied for the remaining 3G frequency spectrum.

Smart and DMPI said they have been fully compliant and successful in the positioning of 3G services to the public so they should likewise be qualified for the bidding for the last slot, especially since they were declared qualified in the previous awards.

Smart has 25 MHz of 3G frequency, including its own 15 MHz and CURE’s (Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises) 10 MHz. Smart now owns CURE. It bought out the previous owners of CURE in 2008. Aside from the total 25MHz, Smart also use Pilipino Telephone Corp.’s 10 MHz.

Digitel has 10 MHz of bandwidth in the 3G spectrum.

Bayan lawyer Ariel Tubayan asked the NTC, meanwhile, to cease from any attempt to dispose of the last 3G slot pending its appeal with the Court of Appeals (CA). “We are continuing to object to this. The NTC should hold in abeyance the awarding of the remaining 3G frequency until the CA has issued its final resolution.”

Bayan, the telephone unit of the Lopez group, assailed the NTC for “arbitrarily and whimsically adopting” in 2005 a 30-point rating system and a 20-point qualification threshold in ranking applicants, which was made without notice and which went beyond the scope of the 3G circular.”