NTC to issue competition policy framework in Oct

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will release next month a draft policy framework that will govern competition in the local telecommunications and broadcasting sectors, The STAR learned.

The comprehensive competition policy is NTC’s first step towards proposing amendments to Republic Act 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act that has guided the industry since 1995.

"RA 7925 is a 10-year old law and it’s about time there be some modifications to it. Many of its provisions need to be amended to reflect changes in technology that have also changed the way business is done in the country and most of the industry believes an overhaul of the law is already delayed," NTC commissioner Ronald Solis said in an interview.

He added: "Hopefully, we can have the policy in place by early next year. It will apply not only to public telecommunications entities but to other players, including broadcasting.

He said that some competition rules will have to be put in place, especially with the emergence of new technologies that have made the old notions of competition no longer applicable.

The proposed competition policy framework will also include a review of the present fixed and mobile phone service rates, which have become complicated with the trend towards unlimited offerings.

"We are in the process of discussing with economic experts and academicians on what competition policy framework to adopt, including just rates. We are looking at the best practices abroad," Solis said.

With the policy framework, Solis said the NTC will be implementing the constitutional prohibitions against monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade.

The NTC chief pointed out that while there is indeed a prohibition against these practices in the 1987 Constitution, there are no rules at present that would really determine whether a practice constitutes monopoly or not.

"Even the concept of predatory pricing needs a clear definition," Solis said.

The confusion on what indeed constitutes predatory pricing, according to Solis, was highlighted by the recent war between Sun Cellular and its rival operators over the former’s unlimited call and text promo.

The NTC has not ruled on the complaint filed by Globe and Smart against Sun Cellular until the competition policy framework is issued, which the industry expects will favor Sun.

Under guidelines earlier issued by the commission, the cellular operators were allowed to set their quality standards for their unlimited pricing promos during off-peak hours provided the standards are disclosed to the NTC and the public.

While the regulatory body would not exactly call it an "anti-monopoly" guideline, NTC deputy commissioner Jorge Sarmiento earlier acknowledged that it would introduce policies against monopolistic practices like predatory pricing and encourage the unbundling of the cost of services along with more deregulation of telecommunications services.

There had been attempts in the past [to come up with a similar comprehensive policy], but the recent issue with Sun’s 24/7 service has brought [this issue] to fore. The end-game here is that we want to have proactive, tech-neutral and consistent rules and guidelines to promote a fair environment that would eventually bring down the cost of telecommunications," the NTC official said.