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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the government’s
telecom regulator, said the “abuses” of telcos perceived by
consumers are not “intentional.”
Danilo O. Cuenca, head of the
One-Stop Public Assistance Center (Ospac) and Domestic and
International Carrier Services Division of the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC), said it is hard to prove that
these so-called abuses are intentional and that they are making
money out of these.
He stressed that if there is a
complaint against telecom companies the agency always resolves it as
swiftly as possible.
“The complaints are mostly
filed through telephone and e-mail,” he said.
Cuenca said that text spam,
vanishing load and cell-phone theft are the most common complaint of
the consumers.
In 2005, only 30 complaints were
filed before the NTC.
Anthony Ian M. Cruz, TXTPower
spokesman and co-convener, said the small number of complaints filed
showed that subscribers do not know where they should file a case.
“There is a lack of information
about the NTC. The public is not aware that there is an NTC and what
its functions are.”
“The government must protect
the consumers. The problem is walang malasakit ang NTC sa publiko,”
Cruz said, noting that the agency is very small for the 40 million
subscribers in the country.
“May mga nangyayari lang sa
complaint kung may Congress or Senate hearings,” he said.
He noted that a simple complaint
cannot be accommodated by the commission owing to its manpower
limitation.
“Hindi magrereklamo ang
subscribers kung alam nila ang gagawin nila,” Cruz stressed.
Nationwide, there are only 15 NTC
offices to attend to the complaints of millions of subscribers.
“We urge the NTC to have an
information campaign to educate people on the functions of the NTC
and on what they are doing to protect the public against erring
telcos,” he said.
The consumer group wants the NTC
to establish a complaint booth in malls nationwide to attend to
complaints.
“The NTC should become
proactive. Hindi namin nakikita ngayon’ yun,” he said.
The group also said that one of
the concerns of the subscribers is the rising cell-phone theft in
the country.
“Marami nang namatay, bakit
hindi ma-resolve ng NTC ang ganitong gawain,” Cruz said.
The subscribers don’t know what
they should do if their cell phones are stolen, he added.
“Malaking responsibilidad ng NTC ’yan, hindi alam ng publiko
kung ano ang ginagawa ng NTC,” Cruz said.
“We believe that there is an
organize phone theft syndicate here,” he said.
The group recommended to the NTC
to talk with the cell-phone manufacturers to put small details on
the unit showing the procedure to follow if a cell phone gets lost.
Lucio M. Espinoza Jr., NTC chief
of staff, on the other hand, said that the office of the
Commissioner has directed its One-Stop Public Assistance Center (Ospac)
to be more responsive to the complaints.
“They have been advised to
strictly monitor the telcos’ compliance with the Memorandum
Circular on text spam messages,” he added.
“We want them to really
strictly comply with the existing MCs. Second, we really want to
monitor vanishing load complaints. We advised our action centers to
make sure that the vanishing load complaints are resolved,”
Espinoza said.
He also said that allegations of
TxtPower that “abuses” increase the telcos’ profits remains to
be seen.
The NTC official said that the
agency will be coming up with an information campaign giving the
public what their basic rights are in relation to the telcos.
“Basically they have rights to
consume what they have bought and the right to have a cheaper
telecommunication services,” he said.
“We will also revitalize our
Ospac, we intend to launch a commercial campaign educating the
public on their rights,” Espinoza added.
Espinoza also disclosed that the
NTC is set to issue an order penalizing the two largest telecom
companies for violating the circular on text spam.
The NTC also said that the agency
barred Smart and Piltel from setting expiration times on free SMS.
“The Commission also intends to
call the two other carries Sun and Globe for a discussion. We can
have a roundtable discussion on how can we have a definite action or
guidelines as far as the expiry issue is concerned together with
Txtpower,” Espinoza said.
At present, Sun and Globe have
expiration dates, he added.
“We want to seek their help
upon the request of Txtpower, if we can erase the expiry of free
text,” Espinoza said.
Text spam. Diminishing load.
Dropped calls. Unexplained billings. What should subscriber do?
Cuenca said that subscribers with
complaints should go first to the customer service representatives
of the cell-phone service provider or directly to the agency.
He said the agency has a
complaint center for cell-phone subscribers: the Ospac in Agham
Road, Diliman, Quezon City.
“We want to tell to the public
that filing a complaint against telecom companies is no longer hard
to do. They can download the form in the NTC website www.ntc.gov.ph
and file it to the agency for verification,” he said.
Cuenca said that filing a
complaint takes only 5 to 15 minutes.
The NTC official said consumers
who want to report SMS spam should go to the NTC Central Office (or
a nearby regional office), fill up a complaint form and show the
cell phone containing the alleged text spam message.
“After they file the complaint,
the NTC will send a letter to the telco to explain,” he said.
For lost or stolen cell phone,
consumers need to go to the NTC office and present their affidavit
of ownership and loss; two valid Identification Cards (IDs) such as
passports, driver’s license, company/school ID, TIN, SSS/GSIS ID;
proof of ownership such as receipts of purchase, owner’s
certificate, barcode sticker from the box and a police report in the
absence of any proof of ownership.
There have been efforts to
address mobile-phone subscribers’ woes with laws.
There are bills filed with Senate
and Congress seeking to resolve the problems of consumers.
These measures are House Bills
717 and 934 by Rep. Judy Syjuco of Second District, Iloilo; HB 1485
by Rep. Oscar Malapitan of First District, Caloocan City; HB 2452 by
Rep. Gilbert Remulla of Second District, Cavite; HB 2654 by Rep.
Augusto Baculio of Second District, Misamis Oriental; HB 3407 by
Rep. Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes; and HB 3475 by Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez
of Fourth District, Cebu.
Five of these bills contain
provisions that would effectively lower call rates, particularly by
proposing to depart from the existing per minute, rounded off rates
being charged by telecommunications firms.
HBs 1485 and 2654 propose that
charges for cellular-phone calls be based on a 30-second increments
as against the existing one-minute increment.
HBs 2452 and 3407, on the other
hand, seek to require telecommunications companies to change the
billing rate of cellular-phone calls to per six seconds of actual
use, while HB 3475 seeks to require these companies to change the
call rate to a per-second basis of actual use.
HB 2654 proposes to extend the
validity of prepaid call cards to one year from date of initial use.
HB 3407, on the other hand, provides that prepaid cards should not
be invalidated until fully consumed.
Moreover, HB 2654 pushes for the
registration of cellular-phone units and their corresponding
Subscriber Information Module (SIM) cards with cellular mobile
telephone system providers to prevent the use of stolen cell phones.
Edgardo Cabarrios, director for
common carrier and in the authorization department of NTC said that
the registration of SIM card is the only way to resolve the text
spam.
He, however, said that this was
opposed by TxtPower because of the issue of privacy.
For transparency, HBs 2654, 2452
and 3407 seek to require telcos to provide subscribers with a
detailed billing statement, such as breakdowns on charges passed on
to the consumers. This requirement is the same for both prepaid and
post-paid accounts.
These bills are still pending.
Cabarrios recalled that in August
2000, the NTC issued Memorandum Circular 13-6-2000, ordering telcos
to adopt pulse charging, to extend the validity of call cards of
prepaid subscribers to one year from date of initial use and
registration of SIM cards, but it was opposed by the telcos.
The Ayala-controlled Globe with
its unit Isla Communications Co., Smart and Pilipino Telephone Corp.
received a favorable ruling on their petition to the Quezon City
Regional Trial Court for injunction against the NTC circular.
The case is still pending.
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