The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2005 and 2008 orders of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) disqualifying Next Mobile Inc., currently operating as NOW Telecom, and three other companies in their application for a third-generation mobile communications technology or 3G radio frequency.

The three other disqualified telcos are then Lopez-owned Bayan Telecommunications (BayanTel), Multi-Media Telephony Inc. (MTI), and AZ Communications Inc.

At the time, the NTC had already awarded four of five 3G frequency slots to Smart, Globe, Digitel, and Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise or CURE.

In a 44-page decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the high court’s Second Division denied the petitions challenging the NTC’s consolidated orders dated Dec. 28, 2005 and Aug. 28, 2008 regarding the disqualification of Next Mobile et al.

It also granted the NTC’s petition questioning the 2010 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA), which virtually ordered the regulatory body to allocate the fifth and final 3G slot to BayanTel.

The high tribunal likewise ruled that the grant of the remaining 3G bandwidth assignment “shall be within the [NTC’s] discretion subject to the required application procedures as may be required under relevant laws, rules, and regulations.”