Laoag
City—Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda Josefa
“Imee” R. Marcos is urging the Department of Information and Communications
Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to “seriously
consider” implementing a “lifeline” rate for consumers who are not heavy users
of data and mobile services.
She is also proposing a
package of measures to reduce the cost of phone calls, text messages, and data
services so as to end the country's record of having one of the highest mobile
voice and SMS rates in Asia.
“A ‘lifeline’ rate which
could be based on a consumer’s average data and mobile use would benefit mostly
lower income Filipinos,” the governor said. “The poor sectors of our society
use the internet less frequently than the ‘techie’ ones; hence they should not
be burdened with high cell phone charges that they did not actually incur.”
Ms. Marcos urged the
government to remove the value-added tax on telecommunication services, such as
phone calls and data subscriptions, and to eliminate the interconnectivity fees
between telco firms.
“Removing the VAT on cellular
and data subscriptions will substantially bring down the cost of communications
in the country to benefit our people, especially those engaged in business and
those whose relatives are working abroad and who rely heavily on cellular phone
calls and the internet to communicate with their loved ones as often as they
can,” she explained.
She also proposed the
elimination of network connectivity fees, where subscribers of either of the
two networks are charged extra when they contact numbers belonging to the other
network. The governor stressed that interconnectivity charges hamper customer
mobility, and effectively holds subscribers hostage to their existing
network plans, she said.
“Removing the network connectivity fees will not only reduce the cost of
communications services, but will also improve customer mobility in the
telecommunication industry as well as compel telcos to improve their services,”
she explained.
"If we remove
interconnectivity fees, this will make it easier for a subscriber to move from
one network to another if they are not satisfied with the services they are
receiving from their current providers. Right now, a customer, even if
extremely dissatisfied with the services of [the two telcos], would be held
back from switching to another provider by the stiff interconnection fees.
Thus, telcos get away with bad service while raking in huge profits at the
expense of their customers,” she expounded further.
"Right now, our telco companies are offering ‘unli’ plans in the guise of
making their services and products more affordable to Filipino customers. But
is ‘unli’ really unlimited? Interconnectivity fees end up as extra cost on top
of your unlimited plan," she added.
“Gawin nating tunay ang sinasabi nilang [telcos] unlimited . . .
unlimited call and text to all telecom networks. Sabi nga—sa mga nagliligawan: hindi dapat maging hadlang ang magkaibang
network sa pag-iibigan,” Ms. Marcos noted.
In the long-term, Ms. Marcos asserts that the elimination of interconnectivity
charges and fees will drastically reduce costs of phone and data connection
and force telco firms to ensure reliability of their services—a double-win
situation for Filipino subscribers.
"Filipinos are paying
more for services that are much worse than what can be procured elsewhere. We
all end up shortchanged while telco firms rake up more and more profits," she
lamented.
The DICT is currently fine
tuning a proposal for a shared telco infrastructure initiative.
The common tower scheme is
expected to improve connectivity by providing the necessary infrastructure for
all telco firms. The Philippines has one of the lowest cell densities in
Asia.
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