Altimax Broadcasting Company (Altimax) is a media and telecommunications company co-owned by Velarde, Inc. (VI) and Bethlehem Holdings, Inc. (BHI), a subsidiary of the Globe Group Retirement Fund. Altimax's media businesses are direct-broadcast satellite (DBBS) and Multipoint Multichannel Distribution Service (MMDS) wireless cable TV and broadband. Altimax's broadcast and satellite frequency allocations, however, became a subject of legality issues that ensued in a scuffle between the company's shareholders and government regulator agency

National Telecommunications Commission The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; fil, Pambansang Komisyon sa Telekomunikasyon) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over ...

History

In 1999, The Velarde Group and its holding investment firm Velarde, Inc. (VI), led by former

SkyCable Sky Cable (stylized as SKYcable) is a cable television service of Sky Cable Corporation in the Philippines. It covers areas across the country with both digital and analog cable services, and it has 700,000 subscribers, controlling 45% of t ...

executive vice president Mel Velarde, acquired Altimax Broadcasting Company and its broadcast assets. With this, Altimax was transformed into a wireless broadband service by applying for two licenses to the

(NTC): A Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBBS) two-way service license, and Multi-point Microwave Distribution Service (MMDS) license utilizing 48 MHz within the 2.5 GHz band. The two licenses were under the Provisional Authority (PA). Altimax's original headquarters were located at Espana Blvd., Sampaloc,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. However, in 2005, NTC stopped and revoked Altimax's licenses amid questioning the PA and the providing services. Velarde sued NTC and, 2 years later, won the lawsuit which took legal protection for its licenses.

Acquisition by Globe; legal issues on alleged use of frequencies for other purposes

Bethlehem Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Globe Telecom's Group Retirement Fund (GRF), signed an agreement with

Radio Mindanao Network Radio Mindanao Network, Inc. (RMN), d.b.a. RMN Networks or RMN Network, is a Filipino media company based in Makati, Philippines. It is primarily involved is one of the largest radio networks. Its corporate office is located at the 4th Floor ...

for the acquisition of

Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, Inc. (BEAM) is a telecommunications company in the Philippines with primary focus on UHF broadcasting and digital terrestrial television for the convergence of multimedia. It is owned by Bethlehem Ho ...

(BEAM) in February 2009. 8 months later (October 2009), BHI also signed an agreement with Velarde/Altimax for the expansion of its MMDS/DBS wireless services. In contrast, the Ayala-led BHI acquired 39% of its stake in Altimax (with Velarde keeping 14%; while the remaining stake would be under Globe's parent companies Ayala Corporation and

SingTel Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...

) while taking the acquisition of BEAM's majority stake. The licenses were revoked again by the NTC due to complaints from several cable companies and even the

Philippine Cable Television Association Cable television in the Philippines was introduced in 1969 with the first commercial service of Nuvue Cablevision (later absorbed into Sky Cable); Satellite television in the Philippines was introduced in 2001 with the first commercial broadcast of ...

(PCTA), as well as "unpaid revenues" questioned by Senators

Jinggoy Estrada Jose Pimentel Ejercito Jr. (; born February 17, 1963), also known as Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada or simply Jinggoy Estrada, is a Filipino politician, film actor, and producer serving as a Senator since 2022, and previously from 2004 to 2016. He ...

and

Antonio Trillanes IV Antonio Fuentes Trillanes IV (; born August 6, 1971) is a retired Philippine naval officer who also served as a senator of the Philippines from 2007 to 2019. He is known for his involvement in the Oakwood mutiny of 2003 and the Manila Peninsul ...

. Altimax used to propose a 10 kilowatt-UHF pay TV station using Channel 19 as its frequency. However, there is no word yet on the planning. In 2019, the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

(CA) denied BHI/Globe's petition, questioning an injunction that stopped its payment of an allegedly lowballed amount for the shares in Altimax.

References

{{Globe Telecom Mass media companies of the Philippines Globe Telecom subsidiaries Companies based in Pasig

History

Acquisition by Globe; legal issues on alleged use of frequencies for other purposes

See also

References