|
THE wireless units of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)
want rival Globe Telecom Inc. to stop seeking protection from the
regulator when faced with market competition.
In a submission to the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Smart Communications Inc. and
Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) said Globe should compete fairly
given the market’s rules of competition.
The PLDT units said that Globe should
“refrain from perpetually hiding under the protective skirt of the
NTC.”
“Rather than compete in the open market,
[Globe] has demonstrated its unabashed solicitation of the
intervention of the NTC whenever competitive pressure from other
carriers is present in the market,” Piltel said.
The NTC earlier issued orders directing
Smart and Piltel to stop their discriminatory promos. The
regulator’s order said the pricing scheme of the said promos is
lower than what they charge other carriers.
The NTC orders further said that the
beneficiaries of the lower access charge promos are limited to Smart
and Piltel subscribers. This is so because Piltel and Smart are
extending to each other favorable rates without offering the same to
rivals. Smart and Globe’s existing access charge rate is pegged at
P0.35.
Piltel said requiring it to pay Smart the same
access charge as that which applies to Globe would cost the former
P0.38 per text message, which is higher than the industry rate of
P0.35.
-- Darwin G Amojelar
|
