Globe up against PLDT in new dispute

Despite the reported agreement between Globe Telecom and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to settle their interconnection dispute, certain types of calls coming from PLDT are still being blocked by the Ayala-owned firm.

Unknown to majority of the public, Globe Telecom has refused to allow operator-assisted calls from PLDT to its prepaid cellular phone subscribers.

PLDT 109 operators said the service has never been activated since Globe introduced prepaid cards a year ago.

Likewise, holders of PLDT touch cards cannot reach any Globe customer although they can be used to call the other four local cellular phone providers.

Due to the situation which only recently caught the attention of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Globe is again likely to be issued a show-cause order.

Edgardo Cabarios, head of the NTC common carrier authorization division, said yesterday that he has called the attention of Globe to address the problem immediately.

If Globe fails to act on the order until today, the company will be asked to explain why it should not be penalized, he added.

According to Cabarios, both PLDT and Globe denied the allegations when first confronted about them even as Froilan Castello of Globe's legal department, later on confirmed the reports.

Alfredo Carrera, PLDT vice president for interconnect services, on the other hand, attributed the situation to some billing problems.

"We cannot understand why they refuse open interconnection access to us considering that they will also earn from it. They have not given us a clear explanation. They know that what they are doing is a clear violation of the interconnection law," Carrera said.

Executive Order 59 mandates the interconnection of all telecom carriers to ensure universal access to communication services.

A source said the reason why Globe has not opened the connection with PLDT is because the revenues it collects from prepaid subscribers is lower than the amount it has to pay PLDT, thus, the company will not earn anything from the set-up.

With operator-assisted calls, interconnecting parties split the charge to based on a 30-40-30 arrangement--30 percent of the amount goes to the sending party, 40 percent to the network which handles the call, and 30 percent to the receiving party, practically giving PLDT 70 percent of revenues from calls to prepaid cards.

Of the more than one million subscribers of Globe Telecom, over 70 percent are using prepaid cards.