Chapter 3-E

Department of Transportation and

Communications
The policy of the State on telecommunications
The State is committed to the maintenance and
expansion of viable, efficient and dependable communications
system as effective instruments for national recovery and
economic progress. It shall not compete as a matter of policy
with private enterprise and shall operate communications
facilities only in those areas where private initiatives are
inadequate or non-existent. (E.O. No. 125 as amended by E.O.
125-A dated April 13, 1987)
The policies to promote the rapid
expansion of telecommunications are:

1. The government will rely on the private sector to build and

operate telecommunications facilities in all regions, all such
facilities to be interconnected to form part of a single national
network with appropriate revenue sharing arrangements as
enunciated in Department Circular 90-248 and promulgated in
National Telecommunications Commission Memorandum
Circular 7-13-90.
 2. As soon as suitably qualified private operators can be
found, the government will privatize its existing
telecommunications operations, and will only enter into new
ventures when there is no private sector alternative and as a
temporary arrangement.
3.The NTC is directed to establish abbreviated
procedures to ensure rapid approval of viable projects proposed
by the private sector which can be implemented on a timely
basis.
4.The government will establish arrangements whereby
official development assistance funding can be made available to
the private sector to finance construction of new facilities
which further the government objectives.
The mandate of DOTC on telecommunications.
The Department shall be the primary policy, planning,
programming, coordination, implementing, regulating and
administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the
Government in the promotion, development and regulation of
dependable and coordinated networks of communications
systems, as well as in the fast, safe, efficient and reliable
communications services.
 The objectives of the Department are
the following:
1. Promote the development of dependable and coordinated
networks of communications system.
2. Guide government and private investments in the development
of the country’s communication systems in a most practical, expeditious
and orderly fashion for maximum safety, service and cost effectiveness.
3. Impose appropriate measures so that technical, economic and
other conditions for the continuing economic viability of the
communications entities are not jeopardized and do not encourage
inefficiency and distortion of traffic patronage.
 4. Develop an integrated plan for a nationwide transmission system in
accordance with national and international telecommunications services
requirements including, among others, radio and television broadcast relaying,
leased channel services and data transmission.

5. Guide government and private investments in the establishment,

operation and maintenance of an international switching system for incoming
and outgoing telecommunications services.
6. Encourage the development of a domestic telecommunications
industry in coordination with the concerned entities particularly the
manufacture of communications/electronics equipment and components to
complement and support, as much as possible, the expansion, development,
operation and maintenance of nationwide telecommunications network.
In accordance with the Commission, however, the Department shall, in accordance with
the policies enunciated in this Act, be responsible for:

a) The development and maintenance of a long-term strategic national

development plan for telecommunications to serve as a guide to the industry and
potential investors as well as to the Commission;

b) The coordination of research and development activities in government

with the work of other institutions in the field of telecommunications;

c) The representation and promotion of Philippine interests in international

bodies, and the negotiation of the nation’s rights and obligations in internal
telecommunications matters; and

d) The operation of a national consultative forum to facilitate interaction

amongst the telecommunications industries, user groups, academic and research
institutions in the airing and resolution of important issues in the field of
communications.
Other specific powers and functions of the Department under
Act No. 3846.
The Secretary of Transportation and Communications is
empowered to regulate the construction or manufacture,
possession, control, sale and transfer or radio transmitter or
transceiver, and the establishment, use, the operation of all
radio stations and of all form of radio communications and
transmission within the Philippines.
He shall prescribe rules and regulations covering the
construction and manufacture, possession, purchase, sale and
transfer of radio transmitter and transceiver.
The Secretary’s specific powers and
duties with regard to radio stations are:
1. To classify radio stations and prescribe the nature of the services
to be rendered by each class and by each station within any class;
2. To assign call letters and assign frequencies for each station
licensed by him and for each station established by virtue of a
franchise;
3. Promulgate rules and regulations to prevent and eliminate
interface between stations;
4. Establish areas or zones to be served by any station;
5. Promulgate rules and regulations applicable to radio stations
engaging in chain broadcasting; and
6. Promulgate rules and regulations requiring stations to keep
records to traffic handled, distress frequency watches, programs,
transmission of energy, communications or signs.
 Other specific powers and functions of the Secretary of
Transportation and Communications as provided in Act 3846:
1. To prescribe rates of charges to be paid to the Government for the inspection of
stations, for licensing of stations, for the examination of operators, for the
renewal of station or operator license, and for other services as may be
rendered;

2. To approve or to disapprove any application for the construction, installation,

establishment or operation of a radio station;

3. To approve or disapprove any application for renewal of station or operator

license: provided, however, that application for renewal shall be disapproved
without giving the license a hearing;

4. To approve the location of any station and the power and kind or type of
apparatus to be used; and

5. To prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by stations for handling of

SOS messages and distress traffics, provided, that such rules and regulations
shall not conflict with the provisions of the International Radio Regulations.
The powers and functions of the Department over radio training
schools:
1. To prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by radio
training schools;

2. To supervise the course and method of instruction in radio

training schools; and

3. Refuse to admit in examinations for radio operator’s license,

graduates of radio schools not complying with the
regulations.
 Chapter 4
Sources of Radio Laws and Regulations
The sources of radio laws and regulations are:
1. International Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions
2. The Constitution of the Philippines
3. Laws Enacted by the Legislative Branch of the Government
4. President decrees, Executive Orders, and other Presidential
issuances
5. Department (Ministry) orders and circulars
6. Decisions of the Courts
7. Decisions of the NTC
8. Memorandum circulars of the NTC
9. Opinions of the Secretary (Minister) of Justice
10. Resolution of the Broadcast Media Council (already abolished by
PD No. 1784 effective January 15, 1981)
 The basic Radio Control Laws
1. Act No. 3846, as amended by C.A. No. 365 and 571 and 584
providing for the Regulations of Radio Stations and Radio
Communications in the Philippines and for other purposes.
2. Act No. 3997, as amended (Radio Broadcasting Law)
3. Act No. 3396, as amended (Ship Radio Station Law) requiring the
Installation of radio apparatus obligatory for certain types of ship of
Philippine register.
4. Presidential Decree No. 36. Cancelling franchises, permits and
authorizations granted for the operation of radio, television and
telecommunications facilities that have remained unused by their
holders after reasonable length of time, that have violated the
terms under which they were issued; creating the Mass Media
Council and prescribing rules and regulations on the opening and
operation of mass media.
5. Presidential Decree No. 191. Abolishing the Mass Media
Council created under Presidential Decree No. 36 and creating
in its stead the Media Advisory Council.
6. Letter of Instruction No. 13-A. Giving the Radio Control Office
visitorial and investigative authority, power to impose fines and
surcharges consistent with the penal provisions of Act 3846 as
amended, etc.
7. Executive Order No. 546, series of 1979, creating the Ministry
of Transportation and Communications, and the National
Telecommunications Commission.
8. Presidential Decree No. 1784 signed on January 15, 1981, two
days before the lifting of martial law. The decree abolished the
Print Media Council and the Broadcast Media Council
9. Executive Order No. 125 as amended by Executive Order No.
125-A dated April 13, 1987
Additional Telecommunications (Radio) Laws:
1. R.A. 7925 – Public Telecommunications Policy Act
2. E.O. No. 436, S. 1997 – Operations of Cable Television
3. R.A. 8370 – Children’s Television Law
4. E.O. No. 109 July 12, 1993 – Local Exchange Carrier
Services
5. R.A. No. 6849 – Municipal Telephone
6. E.O. No. 109, S. 1993 – Interconnection of Public
Telecommunications Carriers
 Chapter 5
Telecommunications Franchise and Certificate of
Public Convenience and Necessity

Types of Franchise:
 The primary or Corporate franchise – is a franchise to be or
to exist as a corporation

 The secondary or Special franchise – refers to those rights

and privileges conferred upon existing corporation or
entities to use public property for their private business
 Section 1 of the Radio Control Law provides that no person,
firm, company, association or corporation shall construct,
install, establish or operate a radio transmitting station or a
radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a
radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a
franchise therefore from the Congress of the Philippines.

 The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines

provides that no person shall commence or conduct the
business of being a public telecommunications entity without
first obtaining a franchise (Sec. 16, R.A. No. 7925).
The conditions for the grant of a
franchise are:
1. The grantee must be a citizen of the Philippines or a
corporation or association organized under the laws of the
Philippines at least sixty per centum of the capital pf which
is owned by Filipino citizens;
2. The franchise, certificate or authorization is not exclusive
in character;
3. It shall not be granted for a longer period than fifty (50)
years; and
4. It shall be subject to amendment, alterations, or repeal by
the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so
requires.
 The following are the conditions for the grant of a
certificate of public convenience:
1. The grantee must be a citizen of the Philippines or a corporation,
co-partnership, association constituted and organized under the
laws of the Philippines: provided that 60 per centum of the capital
stock or paid-up capital of such corporation, co-partnership or
association must belong to citizens of the Philippines.
2. The applicant must show that he is financially capable of
undertaking the proposed service and meeting the responsibilities
incident to its operation.
3. The operation of the proposed public service will promote the
public interest in a proper and suitable manner
4. The NTC conducts a hearing before it grants a certificate of public
convenience. The public and competitors are given notices so that
they may oppose the application during the formal hearing.
 A franchise is the legislative authorization to engage in a
business activity or enterprise of a public nature, whereas a
certificate of public convenience and necessity is a
regulatory measure which constitutes the franchisee’s
authority to commence operation.
The radio stations which do not require a franchise are:
a) Amateur station – a station for self-training
intercommunications, and technical investigations carried on by
amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio
technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary
interest.
b) Experimental station – a station utilizing radio waves in
experiments with a view to the development of science or
technique.
c) Training station – is a low-powered station duly licensed by
the NTC established and operated by radio training schools
recognized by it for purposes of giving practical training and
experience to students enrolled in a radio training school.
d) Mobile Radio Station – a station in the mobile service
intended to be used while in motion or during halts at
unspecified points.
e) A private station in a place so outlying and so remote as
to afford no public communication system with the outside
world.
f) Broadcasting stations established and operating at the
time of the approval of the Radio Control Law. (Nov. 11,
1931)
g) Philippine Government Radio Stations.
h) Radio stations in the United States military bases.
i) Citizens radio station – is one intended for private or
personal short distance radio telephone communication
and radio control of objects or devices such as model
airplane, boat or cars.
j) Value-added Service Provider. Provided it does not
put up its own network, a VAS provider need not secure a
franchise.
 Chapter 7
Transmitters and Transceivers
Transmitter
 is an apparatus, contrivance, device or equipment designed
to be capable of transmitting or emitting signs, signals,
writings, images and sounds or intelligence of any nature
through the ether by radio, electronics, television or other
electromagnetic system.
 a device capable of emitting radio frequency waves or energy
intended for transmission of signals, messages or intelligence.
Transceiver
 is an apparatus, contrivance, device or equipment designed
to be capable of transmitting or emitting, and receiving
images and sounds or intelligence of any nature through the
ether by radio, electronics, television or other
electromagnetic system.
 an inherent combination of a radio transmitter and receiver.
An applicant for a permit to possess radio transmitter and
transceiver is required to submit to the NTC the following:
 An equipment history statement showing the source of the
equipment; and
 A copy of receipt of payment of customs duties, or if not
paid, a clearance therefor from the Bureau of Customs if the
equipment came from abroad.
 The sale of radio communications equipment to any
individual, entity or corporation whether government or
private, without a valid Permit to Purchase issued by the
NTC is strictly prohibited. (NTC MC No. 9-8-91 August 14,
1991)

 The sale of radio communications equipment shall only be

done by a duly accredited radio equipment dealer and/or
manufacturer with a valid Radio Equipment Dealers and/or
Manufacturers’ Permit or by an individual, entity or
corporation with a valid Permit to Sell issued by the NTC.
 Any person, firm or agency intending to import radio
communications equipment, accessories or parts must first
secure a Permit to Purchase (now Permit to Import) from
the NTC.

 The Permit to Purchase shall be valid for a period of one-

hundred eighty (180) days and may be extended provided
adequate proof (such as a valid purchase order) that
corresponding orders for the required radio communications
equipment have been made within the validity period of the
Permit to Purchase.
 Radiocommunications Equipment Dealer Permit (REDP)

 Radiocommunications Equipment Manufacturer Permit

(REMP)

 Radiocommunications Equipment Service Center Permit

(RESCP)
 The general qualifications of an applicant for a
REDP, REMP and RESCP are:
1. Filipino citizen (s), if a single proprietor or partnership or
incorporated under existing laws of the Philippines, in the
case of corporations and associations.
2. Registered with the Bureau of Domestic Trade or with the
Securities and Exchange Commission in the case of firms,
companies or associations.
3. A holder of other valid permits or licenses required by other
concerned government agencies allowing such applicant to
engage either in radio communication equipment dealership,
manufacturing and/or assembling or servicing, and
4. Technically and financially capable of operating within the
scope of authority of the permit being applied for.
The conditions for the issuance of a
REDP, REMP and RESCP are:
1. The applicant must possess all the general qualifications;
2. The applicant has paid the required fees; and
3. He has no pending case with the NTC involving violations
of radio laws, rules and regulations.
Scope and authority of the holder of
REDP, REMP and RESCP:
 The holder of a valid REDP is authorized to engage in the
purchase and sale of legally acquired radiocommunication
equipment and repair, service and maintain such equipment;
participate in public biddings or trade exhibitions for the
promotion of radiocommunication products; engage in the
design or installation of radiocommunication systems or
networks; and conduct product demonstrations, provided
however, that a valid transmitter/transceivers demonstration
permit therefor is acquired before conducting a product
demonstration involving test transmission.
 A holder of a valid REMP is authorized only to manufacture
or assemble radiocommunication equipment that are type
approved by the Commission.

 A holder of valid RESCP is authorized only to repair, tune,

calibrate and/or maintain radiocommunication equipment
that are duly registered with the Commission.
 Dealers, manufacturers, and service centers of
transmitters/receivers are required to have certain basic
diagnostic/test equipments and measuring instruments.

 A person who is directly in charge of actual test,

modification, repair, calibration and or tuning of radio
transmitters and/or transceivers must be a holder of a valid
First Class Radiotelephone or Radiotelegraph Commercial
Radio Operator’s Certificate.
 Manufacturers should see to it that the standards of good
engineering practice are observed in the manufacture of radio
transmitter and transceivers and other allied equipment; and
that test and adjustments of such equipment be done only in
properly electrically shielded rooms so that the emissions may
not cause interference to existing radio services.

 Before any demonstration/propagation test is conducted, the

dealer/manufacturer concerned must first secure the necessary
Permit to Demonstrate/Propagate. The NTC may grant a
Permit to Demonstrate/Propagate on a non-exclusive and non-
interference basis for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days to
any authorized dealer/manufacturer of radio communication
upon request/application therefor.
 A construction permit obtained from the NTC is required
before the construction of any radio station or radio
transmitters or transceivers shall be begun.

 The installation or construction of a radio station for which a

Construction Permit has been issued shall be directly
supervised by a registered Electronics and Communications
Engineer.
Other instances that a construction permit is required:
1. The installation of an additional transmitter or transceiver
in a radio station;
2. Increase in the power of a transmitter;
3. The change of location of a station;
4. The change in the antenna system;
5. The transfer of broadcasting studios;
6. The change in the type of emission of station;
7. Any change, alteration or modification of the existing
equipment, covered by a station license or construction
permit, the result of which does not conform with
previous application.
No construction permit shall be required for the modification
of any existing radio station license/permit for change of:
a) Location within 500 meters away from the original
location;
b) Vehicle to any other authorized company vehicle;
c) Hours of operation, bandwidth and emission power;
d) Points of communications/service areas;
e) Change of frequency if replacement frequency is existing
to applicant;
f) Change of equipment covered by necessary permit to
purchase/possess; and
g) Change of name.
 Chapter 9
Radio Station Licenses and
Construction Permits

 A radio station license is a certificate or written authority

issued by the NTC to a person, firm, company, association or
corporation, authorizing the holder thereof to operate a
radio station during the period specified in said instrument
or authorization.
 No radio transmitter or transceiver or radio station shall be
operated without first obtaining from the NTC a radio station
license.
 However, portable/mobile radio transmitters and transceivers
with built-in antenna and output power of 100 mW or less are
exempted from radio station licensing requirements. These
transmitter/transceiver, however, must be registered with the
NTC.
 Furthermore, government-owned radio stations, transmitter,
and transceivers are exempted the licensing requirements
pursuant to the Radio Control Law.
The minimum number of stations for application/authority, to
establish, operate and maintain a conventional non-carrier radio
communications network:
1. For Conventional Radio Communications Network on
Duplex Mode
 Application for new network must have at least twenty (20)
radio stations per repeater.
2. For Conventional Radio Communications Network on
Simplex Mode
 Application for new network must have at least six (6) radio
stations.