Telecom companies buck new scheme on linkup charges

Telecommunications companies opposed yesterday government plans to require them to shift from the present revenue sharing arrangements among interconnecting entities to cost-based interconnection in three years’ time.

In a position paper sent to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC); Globe Telecom said the three-year timetable proposed by the NTC to implement cost-based interconnect may be too short, given the complex processes that are needed for the transition.

The company noted that in many countries where cost-based interconnect has been implemented, significant amounts of manpower time and skills were allocated just for the preliminary process of preparing the accounting data for cost-based interconnection.

It cited the case of Swisscom, which spent three months merely to segregate relevant quantity and price data for their networks and processes in preparation for the long-run incremental cost (LRIC) interconnect, with some 300 staffmembers engaged in it.

Globe also emphasized that the questions of timing and transition are important. "In the event that the players do not move to cost-based interconnect at the same time, it will be difficult to assess an equitable sharing of interconnect costs and revenues in the interim," it said.

It added that the NTC timetable for the transition period must take into consideration the more specific activities that have to be carried out by each carrier in setting the stage for cost-based interconnect.

The STAR earlier reported that the NTC is set to issue a memorandum circular that will require public telecommunication entities (PTEs) to shift from revenue sharing arrangements when accessing or interconnecting to another PTE to cost-based access and interconnection charges within three years starting January 2001.

At present, interconnected PTEs share their toll revenues collected from customers in such a way that the originating and terminating PTEs get an equal share, while the PTEs providing transmission services get a different percentage share, with the PTEs sharing information relating to their revenue collections each period.