Atty. Rose Marie King-Dominguez l August 29, 2025 l Manila Times
Over the long weekend, a significant piece of telecommunications legislation, the Konektadong Pinoy Act (KPA), lapsed into law.
News reports said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not exercise his right to veto the bill.
The law creates a new regulatory regime for the telecom industry and a new player — the data transmission industry participant (DTIP).
As I write this, no official copy of the bicameral committee-approved version is publicly available. The Senate version defines DTIP as an entity engaged in the provision of data transmission services as a form of economic activity.
Data transmission refers to the process of sending and receiving digital or digitized analog signals over a communication medium to one or more computing networks, communication or electronic devices.
Public telecommunications entities (PTEs), which includes typical telecom firms, value-added service (VAS) providers and satellite systems providers or operators (SSPOs) are considered DTIPs.
For decades, services involving connectivity or operating a network needed a congressional franchise and a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), with the request for spectrum assignment as part of the CPCN petition process.
The KPA removes these requirements, except for basic telephone services such as landline and mobile phone networks.
In the 1995 Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, VAS providers, such as those offering internet access and VoIP, didn’t need a franchise — if they didn’t operate their own networks and instead relied on the transmission facilities of PTEs.
In the KPA, VAS providers (and other DTIPs) can have their own networks with no need for a franchise and a CPCN. They only need to register as a DTIP pursuant to criteria and standards to be formulated by the NTC. (The NTC will establish authorization processes specific to the operation of an international gateway facility or a core backbone network).
Similarly, KPA allows DTIPs to use satellite technology without renting it from PTEs. It should be noted, though, that in the rules on international satellite services, direct access to these services is limited to certain entities such as PTEs, VAS providers and broadcaster operators.
Meanwhile, providers of the services have to be accredited as SSPOs. With the KPA considering SSPOs as DTIPs, the NTC may need to clarify whether SSPOs, upon KPA registration, can also directly serve individual users.
Spectrum management
Other notable provisions relate to the management of the spectrum (electromagnetic frequencies). The KPA directs the NTC, in coordination with the Department of Information Technology and Communication (DICT), to review the existing spectrum allocation and assignments.
This review will serve as the basis of a Spectrum Management Policy Framework (SMPF) to be promulgated by the DICT.
Based on the list of policies the framework covers, the SMPF will tackle typical but challenging spectrum issues, such as determination of unutilized/underutilized spectrum and their recall.
Less typical for local frequency regulation is the participation of the Philippine Competition Commission in applications for joint use or co-use of the spectrum.
Digital infrastructure
KPA acknowledges digital infrastructure, such as towers and fiber, as a key component of connectivity and access, and provides for the establishment of a list of infrastructure and services that an entity needs to offer data transmission services competitively.
Access providers will be required to publish reference access offers. In this regard, the DICT is mandated to promulgate policies to ensure the availability of and access to such infrastructure for colocation and co-use by the (interestingly acronym-ed) passive infrastructure owner, lessor, operator.
The NTC has three months from the law’s effectivity to formulate and issue implementing rules and regulations. Considering the complexity, import and range of the KPA’s provisions, and the various issues that have been raised or expressed by stakeholders both for and against the new law, the NTC and DICT have a lot of ground to cover.
***The views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of her office as well as FINEX. For comments, email rmmking@syciplaw.com. Photo is from Pinterest.