Circular extending ‘load’ expiry signed
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) have signed a Joint Memorandum Circular that extends the expiration date of all prepaid credits or “loads” of ICT providers and public telecommunications entities to one year from the current three months.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the memorandum circular amends NTC’s Memorandum Circular No. 03-07-2009, or the Guidelines on Prepaid Loads that cover all prepaid loads of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) providers and public telecommunications entities.
“Specifically, prepaid loads of whatever amount will now have an expiration date that will last up to one year from the date of the top-up. This, in turn, will afford subscribers more time to use their prepaid loads,” Lopez added.
The only exclusion to the coverage of the circular, according to the Trade secretary, will be those prepaid loads purchased for promotions and other services with a specific period of use, as approved by the DTI and the NTC.
“With this circular, the three government agencies can better protect the rights of Filipinos as consumers given that as of end-December 2016, there are around 130 million cellphone subscribers,” he said.
The DTI chief said the number is significantly higher compared to the 75.57 million subscribers way back in 2009 and the carrying cost per subscriber was P3 per day.
“Taking into consideration that more than 90 percent of the costs of the networks are fixed, the carrying cost per subscriber has decreased as the number of subscribers has increased since then,” he added.
Lopez said that by extending the validity of prepaid loads, a consumer will have more flexibility in using telecommunication services based on one’s own needs and requirements.
“The DTI is confident that our Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises [MSMEs] will be able to do business more easily, thanks to this circular, whether by making calls or sending an SMS [short message service] to their customers, or by accessing the Internet to conduct e- commerce,” he added.
“Through greater opportunities accessible via telecommunications, our MSMEs will be able to help us generate inclusive development and shared prosperity for all Filipinos, especially for those at the bottom of the pyramid,” Lopez said.