Philippines telco Now Telecom has lost its mobile operator license after failing to meet its network rollout targets.

As reported by Inquirer.net, Now Telecom lost its license to operate by order of the regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

The company reportedly owes ₱3.57 billion ($62 million) in unpaid regulatory fees. It has been given two weeks to appeal the decision.

In a report last month, the NTC said that Now's network was "grossly deficient" as it was only able to install six base stations out of the 2,306 facilities committed under a 2017 plan.

“After more than five years, the frequency band 3520-3540 MHz is used only in six out of 2,306 base stations (0.26 percent) or three out of 245 locations (1.22 percent),” the NTC order read.

Now Telecom previously stated that it would invest ₱7.8 billion ($140m) in capital over the next decade to build 100 base stations.

Founded in 1992 as Satellite Paging Systems Philippines, the company officially became known as Now in 2013.

The company claims to be the fourth main mobile operator in the country, however, this has been disputed by the NTC, which says Now doesn't own enough frequencies to compete with the major players such as Globe Telecom and PLDT.

In 2023, Now announced a partnership with Nokia that would see the vendor's R&D arm Bell Labs help design Now Telecom's 5G Standalone (5G SA) network.