Section 5February 8, 1990, Sec./Art. 5

Rights of First Option. - All domestic telecommunications carriers or utilities existing at the time of the affectivity of this Act, and franchised to service a province or region WHICH shall have been certified by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) as rendering satisfactory and competent service in its area of operation, are hereby given, under equal conditions and circumstances, the first option to provide, install and operate public calling stations or telephones in provincial communications network which shall be capable of voice and data transmission and shall be interconnected to the public switched telephone network or other national transmission facilities.

The intention to exercise the option shall be made specifically in writing to the Projects Office within six (6) months of the affectivity of this shall indicate the preferred province and the time frame of development. Private operators or franchisees of such public calling stations shall be entitled to the same benefits and privileges enjoyed by those installed and operated by Government in so far as tax concessions and/or incentives are concerned.