Congress toughens up against inferior Internet services

Senator Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV yesterday urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to fast track its release of a memorandum circular addressing complaints regarding the advertised speed of mobile broadband services of telecommunication companies (telcos).

Meantime, Abakada Party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz filed House Resolution 2344 urging the House Committee on Trade and Industry and on Information and Communications Technology to look into the operations of telecommunications service providers which may have been violating the Fair Use Policy of telecommunications providers.

Aquino said he expects the NTC’s promise of an expanded directive on broadband Internet services to be out before the year ends since the NTC has vowed to release a new one in November.

The NTC earlier released Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 07-08-2015 for fixed-line broadband Internet, such as DSL, fiber, and cable. But the directive does not cover mobile broadband services.

NTC said it will issue another one on November since they have already finished a draft copy for the new memorandum circular.

Aquino, however, warned the NTC should see to it the new MC on advertised speed of mobile broadband Internet would be fair for everyone.

“With 90 percent of our Internet users connect from mobile broadband, we need to ensure that this memorandum circular will be a win-win solution for everyone,” said Aquino in a statement.

Rep. De la Cruz noted that Internet consumers are being unfairly treated by firms that have scrapped the ‘unlimited’ marketing program by putting a cap on users’ Internet connection upon reaching a certain volume of data.