Telcos ask Court of Appeals to stop NTC from pursuing new billing scheme

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s top telecommunications companies have sought relief from the Court of Appeals to stop the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from implementing its new rule on per pulse billing for mobile voice calls.

The STAR learned that Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Smart subsidiary Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise (CURE) have filed their respective appeals to the CA from several NTC issuances that put into effect the new maximum six-second pulse billing system which they earlier branded as unconstitutional.

Sources revealed that the said telcos specifically questioned before the CA the provisional authority granted by the NTC to each telco that allowed them to impose certain rates to comply with the new six second pulse billing system, as well as the cease-and-desist orders (CDOs) and show-cause orders issued by the commission that accused the telcos of refusing to comply with the new scheme.

They also asked the CA for a temporary restraining order to stop the NTC from implementing the orders until such time that the main case has been resolved.

Meanwhile, the NTC has called for a technical clarificatory hearing on Jan. 13, 2010 among the different cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS) operators namely Smart, Globe, CURE, and Digitel Mobile to ask them why they continue to fail to comply with the new per pulse billing system.

The four companies earlier asked the NTC to set aside the CDOs that prevented the telco operators from implementing their respective ways of complying with the new six-second pulse billing regime.

The new billing scheme took effect Dec. 6 in the case of calls within the same network. Meanwhile, calls made from one network to another network had to be billed according to the new scheme beginning Dec. 16.

Representatives from the mobile companies noted that they needed more time to make the new scheme work for off-net calls since interconnection agreements have yet to be reached and technical adjustments have yet to be made.

The NTC earlier issued CDOs to Smart, Globe, CURE and Sun Cellular, noting that the said telcos refused and have chosen to defy NTC Memorandum Circular no. 05-07-2009 that mandated them to implement and impose charges on the basis of a six-second pulse billing regime for voice calls beginning last Dec. 6.

The commission also ordered the telcos to immediately refund their subscribers for the difference in the new six-second pulse billing regime and the previous billing system by way of a rebate or credit.

According to the commission, the telcos instead continued to implement and charge their subscribers under the old billing system or regime, which was based on a per minute billing system.

Basically, the NTC is questioning why the telcos did not make the new six-second pulse billing regime the default billing system, but instead asked their respective subscribers to opt for it by keying in certain prefix numbers, followed by the number to be called.

The NTC also ordered the four telcos to show cause why their certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) and provisional authorities (PA) should not be suspended, revoked or cancelled.

In its answer, Smart pointed out that in compliance with the NTC order granting the company a PA to charge new rates, Smart adjusted its CMTS service to conform to the six-second pulse billing scheme.

For its part, Globe Telecom emphasized that it has more than sufficiently complied with the NTC circular on pulse billing. “While the circular mandates a maximum six-second per pulse billing, Globe currently offers a much lower one-second per pulse billing,” it said.

For its part, Digitel told the NTC that while it wants to comply with the NTC circular, it cannot do so yet because of technical difficulties.