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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Senior Reporter
Mobile phone content providers announced they would pull out their
appeal before the two regional trial courts to bar government from
prohibiting broadcast advertising or push messages after the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) clarified some
provision of the circular.
G Gateway Mobile Phil.’s Inc. and Rising Tide
Entertainment Inc. (RTMEI) filed a restraining order against the
commission in Pasig and Quezon City, claiming that Memorandum
Circular 04-07-2009 is “invalid and unconstitutional.”
In a statement, John Alonte, chief executive of
G Gateway Mobile Phil.’s Inc., said they were initially wary about
certain provisions in the circular, particularly one that allows the
regulator to disconnect a content provider from the network pending
investigation.
In Memorandum Order 08-07-2009 issued by the
commission on Wednesday, the regulator clarified Section 7 of the
circular, which stresses that “the order to disconnect should only
be issued after due notice and affording the concerned party the
opportunity to be heard commenced by the issuance of a show cause
order.”
The clarificatory circular came after a Tuesday
meeting at the Senate with content providers of the
telecommunication companies, or telcos.
“We are very grateful to . . . [Senate
President Juan Ponce] Enrile and Commissioner Canobas as well as the
other commissioners of the NTC for hearing our concerns and
providing us with an opportunity to thresh out our key concerns on
the Memorandum Circular,” Alonte said.
Push messages
The commission’s order also insisted that push
messages or broadcast advertising was prohibited, but the regulator
clarified that “after the subscriber has completed his act of
subscription, the delivery of the subscribed content or service
should no longer be deemed a push message.”
The regulator added that commercial and
promotional advertisements, surveys and other broadcast messages
should be allowed only upon prior written consent by the
subscribers.
“We strongly support the current thrust of
both Senate and NTC to solve the problem in order to protect, first
and foremost, the public interest,” Alonte said.
“We will continue our dialogue with the NTC
and will provide our cooperation with the regulatory body’s
ongoing efforts to protect the welfare of the general public,” he
added.
Value-added service providers, such as Rising
Tide Entertainment and G Gateway, rely heavily on push messaging for
the delivery of their services.
The content providers added that push messaging
plays a significant role in inviting potential subscribers to avail
of its services.
Rising Tide Entertainment, in its petition
before the Quezon City court, said the circular unduly limits the
marketing activities of content and information service providers.
The circular also effectively favors traditional advertising
methods, such as those in television, radio and print, the firm
said.
It also said that the circular does not only
regulate, but also prohibits trade in that it absolutely bans the
use of push messaging as a marketing medium.
“The absolute ban on push messaging impairs
the ability of content and/or information service providers to
deliver services already requested by mobile phone subscribers and,
thus, effectively prevents the fulfillment of their present and
future contractual commitments to deliver mobile phone content,
resulting in crippling, if not totally killing, their business
altogether,” it added.
The industry has grown to about P5 billion in
annual gross revenues.
Not part of coalition
Meanwhile, Chikka, one of the country’s
largest mobile applications developers, issued a statement denying
it was part of a so-called content provider “coalition” that
intends to stop the National Telecommunications Commission from
implementing new regulations protecting consumers from “unwanted
content” and “text spam.”
“It’s been bandied about that Chikka will be
part of this CP [content providers] coalition. We categorically deny
this,” said Chito Bustamante, Chikka chief executive officer.
“We have never expressed a common position with other CPs on this
issue, much less expressed support for a TRO or any other moves to
stop the NTC from implementing MC [memorandum circular] 04-07-09.”
“We have gone only as far as seek
clarifications from the NTC regarding certain sections of the
memorandum circular,” he added. “As a matter of fact, we are
supportive of the spirit of the new regulation intended to protect
the public from potential abuse.”
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