|
BAYAN Telecommunications Inc. wants the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to fast track the planned
reduction of interconnection charges for voice calls and short
messaging service (SMS).
In a statement, Tunde Fafunwa,
Bayan chief executive consultant, said voice call rates for mobile
services in the Philippines remain the highest in Asia.
“This is particularly true for
calls made outside of a carrier’s network [off-net]. It is on this
environment we saw an opportunity to launch Bayan Wireless Landline,
where we offered unlimited landline calling while being mobile [and]
calling on-net and off-net to other landline providers,” he said.
The NTC blamed commercial
agreements between telecom companies for making cell phone use
unreasonable in the Philippines with subscribers bearing the bulk of
the cost.
In August, the regulator issued a
draft circular imposing a 15 centavos interconnection charge per
text message, which is lower than the current rate of 35 centavos
per message. Another circular it issued would reduce the
interconnection charge for voice calls to PI.50 or lower per minute
or 63-percent cheaper than the current rate of P4 between mobile
operators of separate networks.
The regulator said reducing the
cost of mobile phone usage would bring down landline charges.
Edgardo Cabarrios, NTC director
for common carrier and authorization department, said the emergence
of wireless landlines gives consumers an option.
The International Data Corp.
earlier said that wireless landline service is becoming more popular
in certain markets as operators use the technology to offer
unlimited voice calls that resemble services offered by traditional
landlines.
Wireless landline merges the
benefits of landlines and cellular by offering unlimited local calls
within an area for a fixed rate. Besides Bayan, Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Co., Globe Telecom Inc. and Digital offer
wireless landline services.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
|
