When a promise is not kept

Never make a promise you can’t keep. This edict applies not just to people, but even with corporations. This is one simple motto that apparently Globe Telecom Inc., the country’s second-largest phone company, had problems living with.

Globe, which is a partnership of such powerhouse names as Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., started in the second half of 2005 a price offering called the "Unlimitext" that truly made a mark among the country’s text messaging community.

Globe’s flat rate of as low as P10 a day for those that enrolled for five days was a sure hit, attracting droves of subscribers from other networks. By the end of 2006, the Ayala telecommunications company’s subscriber base rose to 15.7 million users, up from 12.4 million in end-2005.

Subscribers knew they had a good thing going with Globe, the more gullible ones believing a promise the company made in February 2006 that the Unlimitext was going to be here forever. This was apparently spelled out in its related print ads. Furthermore, Globe asked and got the National Telecommunications Commission’s approval to turn the promo into a permanent fee structure.

And who was NTC to stand in the way of a supposedly very passionate love affair between Globe and its subscribers.

Forever no longer

The promise of forever appeared to be short-lived for Globe. Barely a year after, the telecom firm changed its mind and told the NTC that it was changing the terms of its offer and effectively increasing the package rates. And like a marriage gone sour, this is really where things got to be very sticky.

In late January, Globe informed its subscribers that starting Feb. 1, it was taking out the "Unlimitext" P15 for a day, P25 for two days and P50 for five days and replacing it with a much-higher 24-hour rate of P20 with variations depending on time of use. 

Armed with loads of euphemism, Globe told its subscribers that its variant offers were to give customers more choices. However, like an aggrieved spouse, subscribers sensed that the other party was not totally honest; subscribers felt they had to get back at Globe.

Getting back

The consumer group TxtPower, the very same one that scared House Speaker Jose de Venecia from pushing for a law that would tax text messaging, mounted a text brigade and sent complaints addressed to the NTC.

Fortunately for consumers, the new NTC chief commissioner Abraham Abesamis, whether out of sincerity or just being typically accommodative to voters ahead of the May elections, ordered Globe on Feb. 5 to refrain from implementing the new rates.

Armed with heaps of legalese, Globe said it couldn’t heed the NTC’s order and that Abesamis acted unfairly; Globe was turning the tables around and wanting to create an impression that it was the aggrieved party.

Globe’s stand

To be fair, some of Globe’s arguments made sense. It said the order was signed only by Abesamis when it should have been signed also by the two other deputy commissioners. The company also alleged that the NTC didn’t even give it a fair trial to get its side on the matter, which is a regular process with a semi-judicial body like the NTC.

The Ayala company justified its move to increase the package rates saying that the traffic created by "Unlimitext" unsustainable considering what users pay for the service.

Some subscribers may indeed have abused the "Unlimitext" offering by sending a hundred messages in a day, a deed that surely had challenged the phone company’s infrastructure capability. But then, a promise is a promise, which leads us back to the first premise of promising. When Globe offered a flat rate to millions of users, it should have known that usage would surge and that traffic would build up.

Companies like Globe surely have efficient planning processes and capabilities that must have seen that at a certain point, the network could just choke with millions of messages passing through; certainly, this probability should have been anticipated and additional investment in facilities are factored in when the "promise" was offered.

Is NTC softening?

After an exchange of memos between the NTC and the company, subscribers are still waiting for the verdict. The regulator, for whatever reason, appears to have softened its initial blow when it gave Globe time to explain itself – and probably time, too, to win over the NTC?

This is where consumer vigilance matters the most. The "texting" public should keep on pressing NTC to decide what’s best for the consumers against what Globe had promised to deliver.

On the other hand, Globe consumers also have the choice: They could either junk their Globe SIM cards in protest and shift to Smart or Sun Cellular.

3rd PPT Million-Peso Hold’Em Philippine championship

The Philippine Poker Tour (PPT), the leading advocate of non-wager poker tournaments in the country, in partnership with Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), recently launched the 3rd Million-Peso Hold’em Philippine championship. This joint project of PPT and Pagcor aims to continue the search for local poker talents and bring local poker competitions to world class level.

Qualifying/satellite tournaments are be held at San Mig at Alabang Town Center (every Wednesdays and Fridays), Valle Verde Country Club (every Wednesdays and Fridays), and at Casino Filipino sites nationwide. Winners of the qualifying/satellite competition earn seats to the Finals.

The Grand Champion of the 3rd Million-Peso Edition will join Derek Bautista (1st Edition) of Baguio City and Chris Parker (2nd Edition), a local expatriate business executive, in the elite circle of poker millionaires.

The complete prize structure and other details may be viewed at the PPT website, www.PhilippinePokerTour.com. Interested parties may also call PPT secretariat (c/o Cindy) at 817-9092 or 812-0153.  

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street , Salcedo Village , 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Previous columns may be viewed at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.