The Philippine telco lobby wants the energy crisis to pump the brakes on a law it tried to kill before it passed.
The Bottom Line
- PCTO issued a statement on March 25, 2026, calling for a moratorium on all new policy issuances under the Konektadong Pinoy Act for the duration of the national energy emergency.
- The group’s four demands include extended consultations on the access list, dig once policy, and infrastructure sharing, plus full use of the one-year statutory window for the Spectrum Management Policy Framework.
- PCTO’s members, led by PLDT and Globe Telecom, publicly opposed the Konektadong Pinoy Act before it became law in August 2025, raising constitutional and national security objections.
- The energy emergency, declared on March 24 under Executive Order 110, gives incumbents a procedural argument to delay rules that open the market to new competitors.
- The SMPF deadline falls in December 2026. If consultations are extended or paused, that timeline could slip, pushing the framework that governs spectrum allocation deeper into uncertainty.
The Philippine Chamber of Telecommunication Operators wants regulators to hit pause on the Konektadong Pinoy Act. The timing is strategic. One day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 110 declaring a national energy emergency on March 24, 2026, PCTO released a formal statement requesting a moratorium on all telecom-related policy issuances for the duration of the crisis.
The ask sounds reasonable on its surface. Telecom operators are dealing with rising fuel and electricity costs, supply chain pressure, and increased demand for connectivity during an emergency. Compressed policy consultation timelines, PCTO argues, make it difficult for industry players to provide substantive input on complex regulatory questions.
But the Konektadong Pinoy Act and PCTO have history. And that context matters.
PCTO Opposed the Konektadong Pinoy Act Before It Became Law
Republic Act No. 12234, the Konektadong Pinoy Act, lapsed into law on August 24, 2025 without presidential signature. It took effect on September 14, 2025. The law removes the requirement for a congressional franchise to operate data transmission networks, opening the market to new internet service providers who previously needed legislative approval and a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the National Telecommunications Commission.
PCTO’s largest members, PLDT and Globe Telecom, fought the bill before it passed. The group called the proposed legislation “unnecessary and superfluous,” arguing that the Amended Public Service Act already covered new market entrants. PCTO raised constitutional objections, warned of national security risks from smaller players entering the market, and said the bill would weaken NTC oversight and erode investor confidence.
The law passed anyway. PLDT and Globe later shifted their position and expressed support for IRR drafting and implementation. The IRR was signed by seven government agencies led by DICT Secretary Henry Aguda on November 5, 2025, and took effect on December 17, 2025.
What the Energy Emergency Actually Means for Telecom
The national energy emergency stems from the 2026 Iran war and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles roughly one-fifth of global crude oil transit. The Philippines imports about 98% of its oil from the Middle East, making it among the most exposed countries in Asia. Wikipedia By late March 2026, diesel prices had exceeded PHP 130 per liter and gasoline had surpassed PHP 100 per liter. Wikipedia
EO 110 authorizes the government to implement fuel allocation plans, enforce energy conservation measures, and take action against hoarding and profiteering. Philippine News Agency The Department of Energy has directed power sector stakeholders to implement fuel conservation and prioritization measures.
For telecom operators, the practical impacts are real. Diesel powers backup generators for cell towers. Higher fuel costs raise operating expenses across the network. The companies are spending more to keep infrastructure running while consumer demand for connectivity climbs during the crisis. PCTO’s argument that operators are under operational strain is not fabricated.
The question is whether that strain justifies halting the regulatory rollout of a law that took years to pass and is already in its implementation phase.
PCTO’s Four Requests and What They Target
PCTO’s statement contained four specific asks. The first is for extended and spaced policy consultations on the access list, dig once policy, infrastructure sharing, cybersecurity requirements, and the Spectrum Management Policy Framework. The second asks regulators to account for increased operating costs and supply chain disruptions when setting compliance deadlines. The third calls for full use of the one-year statutory window for SMPF development, which under the IRR must be completed by approximately December 2026. The fourth requests a blanket moratorium on new circulars, directives, or policies affecting telecom during the emergency.
Each request targets a specific piece of the Konektadong Pinoy Act’s implementation machinery. The access list determines which infrastructure incumbents must share with new entrants. The dig once policy governs how fiber is laid alongside public works projects. The SMPF will determine how radio spectrum is allocated, recalled, and reassigned, including provisions for the Philippine Competition Commission to weigh in on spectrum concentration.
For incumbent operators who control the bulk of deployed infrastructure and spectrum assignments, delays in these frameworks mean more time operating under the status quo.
The SMPF Is the Real Battleground
Of the four PCTO requests, the SMPF timeline carries the most structural weight. The Konektadong Pinoy Act mandates that DICT develop the Spectrum Management Policy Framework within one year of IRR effectivity. That puts the deadline around December 2026.
The SMPF will address spectrum recall for unutilized or underutilized frequencies, a provision that directly affects incumbents sitting on assigned but undeployed spectrum. It also introduces Philippine Competition Commission oversight into spectrum assignment and co-use applications, a new layer of regulatory scrutiny for operators accustomed to dealing primarily with the NTC.
PCTO’s call to use the “full and meaningful” one-year period is framed as a quality argument. But any delay in SMPF consultation compresses the window for public comment, drafting, and promulgation, or pushes the deadline past December 2026.
Connectivity During a Crisis Is a Public Interest Issue
PCTO frames its moratorium request as a public interest argument. Keeping telecom networks operational and financially stable during a national emergency protects connectivity for millions of Filipinos. That framing is accurate on its face.
But the Konektadong Pinoy Act exists because the Philippine telecom market has been concentrated for decades. A 2018 UP study described the market as “highly concentrated” and identified barriers to the entry of a third player. The law’s entire purpose is to lower those barriers.
Pausing implementation during a crisis that could last up to a year (the energy emergency declaration is valid for 12 months unless lifted) would effectively freeze the competitive landscape in place, preserving the operating advantages of incumbents who hold the most infrastructure, the most spectrum, and the most subscribers.
The energy emergency is real. The operational pressures on telecom operators are real. Whether those pressures require a full policy moratorium on a law designed to open competition, or whether they simply call for reasonable accommodations in consultation scheduling, is the regulatory judgment call that DICT and NTC now face.
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