Consumer group backs NTC on access charges

MANILA, Philippines - TXTmate, a youth organization of mobile phone users seeking to lower communications costs in the country, expressed yesterday its support to a plan of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to compel telecommunication companies to slash access charges.

TXTmate spokesperson Marcelino Veloso III explained that lower access charges will be a boon to consumers since these will result in lower voice call and text rates. Lower access charges will also encourage the entry of new players and stir up competition, which will further pull down rates while resulting in better services offered by telcos, he added.

Access charges are the added costs a subscriber pays in order to communicate to another subscriber using a different network. These added charges are applied by the telcos to pay for access to another network which includes transmission and receiving costs, equipment costs and other fees.

TXTmate urged on Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to once again rise up to champion the cause of consumers by leading the push for lower access charges in the same way that he successfully forced telcos to extend the expiration dates of prepaid credits while addressing the problem of vanishing loads.

“Local telcos have long ignored the clamor of consumers like us. We need someone like Senator Enrile who has the means to make the authorities take heed and work for the general interest of the public before telecom giants throw their weight around once again to block this initiative,” Veloso said.

NTC deputy commissioner Douglas Michael Mallillin was earlier quoted as saying that the new circular to cut the interconnection charge for voice calls and text is already on the drawing board.

In 2008, the NTC issued a draft circular that mandated a 15-centavo interconnection charge per text message, lower than the current rate of 35 centavos. A separate draft circular was also issued to reduce the interconnection charge for voice calls to P1.50 or lower per minute from the current rate of P4 between mobile operators of separate networks.

With the draft circular, NTC estimated that short messaging service (SMS) fee will drop to 40 to 50 centavos while cost of voice calls may range between P3 and P4 per minute. At present, the telcos charge P1 per text message and between P6 and P6.50 per minute for voice calls.

However, the draft circulars that were issued last year were shelved after the telcos opposed them.

“Even just reducing the cost by P1 per minute of call would mean billions of pesos saved by the public while translating into increased profits for telecom firms and higher tax collection by virtue of the vast number of calls and text that would subsequently follow,” Veloso argued.

The group said industry studies have shown that the Philippines has the highest access charges rates in Asia at P4 per minute of call compared to an equivalent P1.24 to P1.30 per minute of call in Malaysia and P1.24 to P1.30 per minute of call in Thailand.

“Does this mean that telecommunication companies in our country have higher costs in connecting with each other’s networks than our neighboring countries? Or does this mean that they are declaring more than what they spend? Surely if other telecom companies in Asia could afford to connect to other networks at these rates, those companies in our country – who by the way, are enjoying bigger market shares since they are only few and far in between, can do this also,” Veloso said.

He added that lowering of access charges will not only significantly lessen the amount of costs to the mobile phone subscriber but also promote market competition among the telecommunication companies.

Market competition would ensure that lower service charges, new and improved products and services as well as provide consumers with more choiced with regard to their service providers since these providers would find ways to entice more customers to use their services which would encourage public spending, ultimately benefiting the economy, the group pointed out.