PLDT loses court battle; must pay higher regulatory fee

The Philippine’s dominant telecoms company Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) must pay PHP350 million (USD8.4 million) in supervision and regulatory fees (SRF) to the regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission, after finally losing a 19-year court battle in the Supreme Court. The local Inquirer newspaper reports that PLDT has lost its bid to have stock dividends excluded from the calculation of SRF fees, and must now pay more starting this year. The Supreme Court last week upheld a 1999 decision on how the SRF should be computed, and clarified that the assessment should include stock dividends.