Lawmaker urged to reconsider his call for the abolition of NTC

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) urged yesterday its former chief, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago to reconsider his call for the abolition of the commission after it has allegedly abdicated its role of ensuring that cellular phone companies comply with certain minimum service performance standards earlier imposed by the NTC.

NTC commissioner Ronald Solis explained that the order issued by the commission last May 23 which allowed mobile companies to set their own minimum service performance standards applies only to innovative price plans or the so-called unlimited voice and text offerings and not to regular text and call services.

Solis said the NTC did not abdicate or scrap, nor has the intention to do away with the existing standards prescribed by the commission. For regular text and call services where mobile phone companies impose a per minute charge on voice calls and impose a charge for every text message sent, these companies are still required to comply with the standards set by the NTC which requires a seven-percent grade of service (GOS) and drop call rate (DCR) of five percent.

The commission issued interim guidelines for innovative price plans offered by mobile companies such as Sun Cellular’s 24/7 and Smart’s 25/8, which Solis said were prompted by the need to immediately address the network congestion brought about by the advent of unlimited service promos.

He emphasized that the NTC is guided by the fundamental dictates of public interest and convenience and at the same time, the critical need to balance its desire to allow the market to freely compete in an environment of minimal regulation as against NTC’s duty to protect the public by ensuring that the delivery of new and innovative services by mobile phone companies meet certain minimum standards.

Under the new guidelines governing innovative price plans, cellular mobile telephone system (CMTS) operators are allowed to set their own minimum standards. However, these operators shall be required to submit and disclose these standards to the NTC prior to the offering. They are also required to disclose these standards to the public through publication in all their advertisements and other forms of information campaigns.

After one year, operators must improve their GOS and DCR by at least 50 percent of the difference between their voluntary standard and the NTC standard. After two years, operators must meet NTC’s standards of seven percent GOS and five percent DCR.

Operators shall be given the option of setting a higher DCR during peak hours (6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily) but if in its assessment, the operator cannot comply with the disclosed minimum standards during such peak hours, then it shall be authorized to terminate the call after five minutes, provided the same is similarly disclosed and approved by the NTC and disclosed to the public.

The NTC assured Santiago that it is serious in strictly enforcing these self-imposed service standards for their innovative price plans, adding that all applicable fines and penalties shall be imposed on any mobile company that fails to meet its own standards for its ongoing and future promotional plans.

Solis said that while the May 23 order is intended to force the quality upward – a need that was urgently called for in 2002, today, the consumers’ desires and needs are different and more varied.

"The popularity of the new and innovative price plans reflects the appreciation that consumers have the options that enable them to shop for and choose the price-quality package that might best suit their needs. Therefore, while the NTC has no desire to abdicate its role in ensuring quality and maintaining minimum standards, it must also be careful not to overprotect the consumers through rules that could limit their ability to purchase the mix of service they desire," he added.