TXTPower

Consumer group TXTPower today kept the pressure at the country’s telecommunications companies for refusing to implement per-pulse charging that would lower cellphone calling rates.

“Smart, Globe and Sun Cellular act as if they are masters of the industry who follow no one except the beat of their bankers,” said TXTPower president Tonyo Cruz, who attended and spoke at Monday’s hearing by the Senate trade and commerce committee.

“Telcos must be made to understand that they operate public-utility companies that are imbued with the public interest like fair billing billing practices and low pricing. They have to follow the country’s laws,” said Cruz.

According to the eight-year old consumer group, the power industry abides by regulatory practices and policies of the Energy Regulatory Commission while the telcos merely want the National Telecommunications Commission “to follow their own whimsical and capricious practices.”

Instead of complying with the new NTC Circular mandating a shift from per-minute to per-pulse billing, the telcos Smart and Globe made the new billing scheme optional with the companies requiring subscribers to use prefixes to be charged per-pulse.

“That is not compliance. That is a clear violation of the circular,” said Cruz.

Cruz reminded the telcos that their congressional franchises Batas Pambansa 95 for Globe, Republic Act 7294 for Smart and Republic Act 7678 require them to follow rates set by the NTC.

TXTPower singled out Globe Telecom president Ernest Cu who admitted in an interview on ABS-CBNNews.com that “If you’re a telco, how do you convince a farmer to spend his money on prepaid load over food? And
how can you make him choose you over the other telco? How do you keep him spending? That’s where the challenge is.”

“That is not only callous. It is a mindset that is totally against the public-utility nature of the telecommunications sector,” said Cruz.

“The intransigence of the telcos’ over the NTC circular on per-pulse billing is only the latest and most brazen violation of consumer rights that they have done so far. Consumers have a long list of complaints which hopefully the NTC would act on and compel them to resolve,” said Cruz. ###