NTC celebrates 45 years of fostering telecommunications for nation-building

SINCE its creation 45 years ago under Executive Order (EO) 546, promulgated on July 23, 1979, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecommunications services and radio and television networks throughout the Philippines.

It was conferred with regulatory and quasi-judicial functions taken over from the Board of Communications and the Telecommunications Control Bureau, which were abolished in the same order.

NTC has been primarily responsible for the regulation with quasi-judicial functions relative to the supervision, adjudication and control of the country's radio communications and broadcast, including cable television facilities and services.

This authority has given NTC the autonomy to adopt measures and promote guidelines, rules and regulations on the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunications facilities and services nationwide.

Despite its independence as a regulatory body, notwithstanding its quasi-judicial function, NTC remained under the administrative supervision of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as an attached agency.

For its quasi-judicial functions, its decisions would be appealable only and directly to the Supreme Court.

Telecommunications transitioned from analog to digital, cellular phones, and desktop computers to smartphones and tablets, and through it all, the NTC has had a hand in the history of broadcast development.

NTC present leadership

NTC has been led by lawyer Ella Blanca Lopez as commissioner with lawyer Jon Paulo Salvahan and engineer Alvin Bernard Blanco as deputy commissioners.

Lopez was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the new commissioner, months after she took over the leadership of the agency in a temporary capacity.

Prior to her appointment, Lopez was deputy commissioner of the NTC and its officer in charge.

Warning to SIM Registration Act violators

On July 18, NTC issued a warning against violators of the SIM Registration Act, particularly those selling preregistered SIMs.

(SIM means subscriber identification module that comes with the card inserted to mobile phones and tablets.)

NTC