Senate approves lifetime cellphone number bill

The Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill allowing mobile phone users to switch between network providers without losing one’s own “digital identity” and eliminating interconnection charges of telecommunication companies.

Senate Bill 636, or the proposed Lifetime Cellphone Number Act, was approved, providing mobile phone users with the option of keeping their existing mobile numbers even as they switch networks or mode of subscription services from prepaid to postpaid, and vice versa.

The bill, authored by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, accomplishes this by prohibiting public telecommunications entities (PTEs) from locking-in mobile devices to their respective network, regardless whether the device is sold as a unit or under a service contract.

“Advancing genuine consumer welfare starts by recognizing the right of every user to choose what is best for them. This is the essence of the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act – to have the freedom to avail of the services you want, and in return foster a spirit of market competition among telecommunication companies,” Gatchalian said.

The measure also removes the interconnection charges being imposed by network companies for calls and text messages sent to numbers registered under competing networks.

Users are currently charged P2.50 per minute for calls and P0.15 for text messages to different networks. In 2016, these interconnection fees generated revenue of P3.2 billion for one telco giant.

Gatchalian said interconnection fees put an unnecessary burden on mobile subscribers who have contacts that patronize different networks.

“Removing these fees will result in consumer savings since they will no longer be made to pay a premium for making inter-network calls and texts,” Gatchalian said.

To ensure strict compliance with the pro-consumer provisions, the measure imposes strict penalties on PTEs for non-compliance.

For the first offense, telecommunication companies shall be charged a fine between P100,000 to P300,000; for the second offense, the fine will be from P400,000 up to P600,000.

Subsequent offenses will have a penalty of not less than P700,000 and up to P1 million, and shall result in the revocation of the telco company’s franchise.