|
By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
GLOBE Telecom Inc. is opposing a government plan
to cut interconnection charges and instead will offer a promo
package reducing its text messaging or SMS (short messaging service)
rate by half.
In a position paper submitted to the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Rodolfo Salalima, Globe senior
vice president for corporate and regulatory affairs, said that
instead of lowering the interconnection charge, it will offer
off-net text messaging of P20 per 40 text messages per day during
these hard times.
Salalima said the promo package will result in
an effective off-net SMS rate of P0.50. Off-net means that a promo
of one carrier is being offered to subscribers of another carrier.
The company, however, did not propose any
promotional offering for its voice services.
The NTC last month issued a draft circular
imposing a P0.15-interconnection charge per SMS, which is lower than
the current rate of P0.35.
The retail price of SMS consists of the cost of
the network sending the message plus the cost of the network
receiving it, as well as the cost of the interconnection.
At present, telecom companies charge P1 per text
message.
A separate circular would also reduce the
interconnection charge for voice calls to P1.50 or lower per minute,
or 63 percent cheaper than the current rate of P4 between mobile
operators with separate networks.
“[The NTC] circulars must be stopped because
they are contrary to law,” Salalima said.
The Globe official said the proposed circulars
violate Republic Act 7925 and unduly interferes with purely business
decisions.
He said no matter how laudable, lowering the
interconnection or access charges for both cellular text and voice
services through administrative circulars are “statutorily infirm
and illegal.”
“We must guard against this purely
administrative move of fixing rates via the issuance of
administrative fiats exemplified by the subject circulars, lest a
historical illegality repeats itself and forever haunts the
telecommunication industry,” Salalima said.
He said the country’s cellular rates for both
text and voice are already one of the lowest in the world. The P1
per message sent in the Philippines is cheaper than Celcom of
Malaysia at P1.07; Excelcomindo of Indonesia, P1.18; IDEA of India,
P1.51; CTM of China, P1.55; Mobile One of Singapore, P1.69; DTAC of
Thailand, P2.71; Far Eastone of Taiwan, P4.25; Optus of Australia,
P10.40; and CSL of Hong Kong, P15.91.
At present, Globe is offering on-net text at
P0.23 per message, while the average cost of on-net text is P0.17
per message and off-net is P0.87. For blended messages, the average
cost is P0.21.
The Ayala-led telco’s voice rate of P5.50 per
minute is lower than Mobile One’s P5.11, Far Eastone’s P6.80,
CTM’s P7.44, IDEA’s P10.10, and Optus’ P19.56. Maxis of
Malaysia charges P4.02 per minute.
“Because [the country’s] cellular rates are
already one of the lowest in the world, why must government unduly
and illegally interfere therewith? What is wrong then with having
business that is viable?” Salalima said.
“This short-sighted inclination of
government is one of the reason[s] why Philippine companies never
make [it] globally, so unlike other Asian [telecommunications]
companies which have expanded their operations internationally or
outside of their countries because of their very supportive and
nurturing governments,” he added.
Rival Smart Communications Inc. earlier
registered its opposition to the proposed cap on interconnection
charges as it will discourage further investments in the industry as
telecommunication companies cannot expect a reasonable period of
time for the return on their investments.
“Dictating lower access charges by imposing
rate caps while adopting the existing interconnection model does not
provide equitable returns to the network provider for its investment
in facilities,” it said.
|
