Enrile, Roxas call for compliance on new charging scheme

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Manuel Roxas II asked major cellular phone companies yesterday to comply with the “per pulse” billing system required by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

The NTC has ordered that calls lasting less than a minute should no longer be charged the full rate of P7.50 per minute, and instead would be billed on a “per pulse” basis.

“Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular agreed to follow the new NTC ruling during last week’s committee hearing at the Senate. I understand from reports that they have yet to follow through on their promise to immediately implement the new pricing scheme,” Enrile said.

The Senate president was reacting to reports that the three telecommunications companies (telcos) have not complied with the NTC order.

Enrile explained that while the new system should have taken effect last Dec. 6, new interconnection rates are to take effect on Dec. 16, or 10 days after the implementation of Memorandum Circular 05-07-2009.

“We have given these telcos all the time and leeway that they need to study and apply the changes to their systems,” Enrile said.

“We have even given them another 10 days to fix their interconnection rates, so that when consumers call, for example, from Globe to Smart, the transition from the old billing scheme to the new rates will be smooth,” Enrile added.

“I urge the telcos to comply with the agreement to reduce cell phone rates, otherwise they will have to face sanctions if they continue to refuse to do so.” Enrile added.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, noted how Smart and Globe have used the “technical difficulties” alibi to dodge NTC’s order.

“Four months have passed since the NTC issued the per pulse-billing directive. Why do these telcos still give technical difficulties as excuse for their failure to implement it?” Roxas asked.

“The NTC must not only threaten to impose sanctions on the telcos. They must impose the sanctions. What matters here is service to the public, not the interest of the telcos,” Roxas said.

“We have to consider the interest of the public hand in hand with the interest of the telcos because if we exclude the telcos, we also have to exclude the consuming public because there is no system of communication,” Enrile explained.

“The economic upside of this is, the telcos will increase their business, at the same time cell phone users who are more careful in the usage of equipment will have enough money to spend for other consumables and thereby enhance the vibrancy of the economy,” Enrile added.

Enrile also reminded the telcos that the Senate has filed a bill giving the NTC broader regulatory powers in order to regulate the telecommunications industry and protect the consuming public.

“Under the amendment, we have given the NTC a fixed tenure and fiscal authority to protect the agency from any political pressure, thereby giving the agency more teeth to remain firm in implementing the rules,” Enrile said.

The NTC issued MC 05-07-2009 in July this year after a series of hearings on the so-called “disappearing loads” anomaly exposed by Enrile and investigated by Roxas’ trade committee. –Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star)