ICT Committee impels Telcos to halt ‘predators’on subscribers’prepaid load

TARLAC CITY— The House Committee on Information and Communications Technology, chaired by Tarlac Second District Representative Victor A. Yap, called on the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Globe Telecom and Smart Communications to report on how to deal with the issue of disappearing prepaid credits and the expiration of prepaid load.

In a recent hearing, the ICT committee tackled the proposed “Prepaid Load Protection Act”. The bill seeks to prohibit the following acts: 1) Imposition of an expiration period on the validity of prepaid call and text cards; 2) Forfeiture of load credits stored on an active prepaid phone account via prepaid call and text card or electronic transfer; and 3) Refusal to give a refund to any prepaid subscriber whose load credits were forfeited without any valid cause.

“In 2016, Telco figures show that there are roughly one hundred twenty eight (128) million mobile phone subscriptions in the country, ninety five percent (95%) of which are prepaid service users. For the longest time, prepaid load has been an essential commodity for the Filipino people. It is no longer just used for calling and texting but more so for internet browsing and social networking. However, Telcos prey on prepaid load subscribers by setting an expiration for the same. This practice forces subscribers to consume the load or risk of having it expire and be left with nothing. This has to stop,” Yap said.

As early as 2009, the NTC already issued Memorandum Circular 03-07-2009 imposing a minimum validity period for load credits of prepaid subscribers. However, Chairman Yap pointed out that NTC was not able to effectively implement the Circular. “I wish to know what the NTC has done to ensure the protection of prepaid load subscribers. NTC had been remiss. There has been no single case against Telco for the disappearance or illegal expiration of prepaid load. We need the cooperation of the NTC for service innovation.

We need the NTC to properly exercise its disciplinary role lest people will suffer,” Yap said.

The committee was apprised that the DICT, DTI and NTC already issued a joint Memorandum Circular requiring telecoms to extend the expiration date of their prepaid loads to 1 year last December 2017. The Memorandum Circular was meant to be effective on January 5, 2018. However, Globe and Smart requested that the implementation of the Circular be deferred to June due to some technical issues that they need to address before they can implement the same.

Yap urged the NTC to have the political will to compel Telcos to expedite the implementation of the Order. “The longer this situation drags on, the longer our people will suffer. The NTC must exercise its full authority under the law to ensure its implementation. I’m hopeful that the Telcos, with their technical capability will be able to comply with this order at the soonest time possible,” said Yap.

Quezon City Second District Representative Winston Castelo supported the statement of Yap. “Why would it take another six months for the circular to be effective? This puzzles us. It can only take Telcos a few minutes to increase or impose fine on loads. Why can’t they do the same to remove the expiration? This is just a matter of using algorithms and computers. Modern technology would allow them to do that. The Telcos do not need six months to calibrate their system,” Castelo said.

The DTI, however, admits that the memorandum circular is just a temporary solution and that they may still the need a legislation to impose penalties on erring Telcos. According to the DTI, a law is needed to impose fines and penalties on Telcos that are responsible for the illegal charging and expiration of prepaid loads.

The ICT Committee also tackled the issue of vanishing load. Certain value added services are automatically being charged by some Telcos without the subscribers actually availing of them. Another ICT member, Buhay Party List Representative Mariano Michael Velarde, Jr., said that he himself lost his prepaid load credits without actually using them.

“I have continually experienced losing my prepaid load for reasons that are unclear to me. For example, I get charged for my internet usage even if I was already subscribed to an unlimited data promo. This should not happen. Our people must not be charged for services that they do not benefit from,” Velarde added.

Yap declared that the Committee will also look in to the issue of vanishing load and unwanted value added service. “This issue on vanishing load is very alarming. This is plain and simple an act of theft by the Telcos or those that allegedly provide value added services. This is a serious affront to the public and we assure you that this will be dealt with severely.”

Another innovation proposed by the Chair is to mandate Telcos to issue e-receipt to every subscriber after they have completely consumed their load. This way, ordinary people will have a means to understand how their prepaid load are being utilised and how they are being charged by the Telcos.

“The Telcos have to be transparent and accountable with their dealings. Post-paid subscribers are provided a monthly statement of accounts for every transaction they had using their mobile numbers. I don’t see any reason why we can’t have the same system for prepaid load subscribers. The telcos can issue an e-receipt to every subscriber after all their prepaid credits have been consumed. This way, the people will be informed on how they utilize their prepaid credits and how exactly are they being charged by the Telcos.” Yap concluded. (Press Rel ease)