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Text messaging and call rates in the country could still hit
historic lows with telecommunication service providers now planning
to launch a slew of new promotional campaigns aimed to help the
country’s more than 58 million mobile phone users cope with
soaring consumer prices, Rep. Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes
revealed Friday.
Santiago took the cue from industry players, who
according to him vowed to come up with new promos that will give
consumers more value for money.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles earlier called
on the telecom companies to make text messaging free of charge in
the light of the unstoppable rise of fuel and food prices.
“We definitely welcome additional promotional
activities which will allow consumers to continue to enjoy highly
affordable and reliable text messaging and other communication
services, said Santiago, chairman of the House Committee on
Information and Communications Technology.
The National Statistics Office on Thursday
reported that consumer price increases, as measured by the inflation
rate, surged to 9.6 percent in May—the highest rate in nine years.
“It’s good that they [telecom companies]
volunteered for promotional activities because after all, it’s the
consumers who makes industry going,” Santigao said. “It’s like
rewarding them for their support.”
In response to prior calls for lower
text-messaging charges, Globe Telecom Inc. Senior Vice President
Rodolfo Salalima said in a radio interview that the Philippines
already has the cheapest texting rates in Asia, largely owing to the
various unlimited text messaging promos offered by service
providers.
“The periodic unlimited texting promotions
have effectively reduced text-messaging rates in the country to as
low as 13 centavos to 14 centavos per message. This is extremely low
compared to India’s effective rate of 61 centavos per text
message, Malaysia’s 67 centavos, Indonesia’s P1.18, China’s
P1.55, and Hong Kong’s unusually high P15.91 per message,”
Salalima stressed.
-- Sammy Martin
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