4 sued for illegal telecom network

Globe Telecom has filed a lawsuit against two Singaporeans and their two Filipino employees after being caught engaged in illegal international simple resale (ISR) operations to serve as warning to others.

Singaporean nationals Yong Fok Cheong alias Norman Yong; and William Yong, alias William Yeung, and Filipinos Raymond Naka and Ramy Lozada are facing criminal charges for violating Article 318 of the Revised Penal Code, or the Anti-Access Device Law.

A news release issued by Globe indicated that all four were arrested in a PNP-CIDG-led raid conducted recently at their office in rooms 43 and 34 of the Leelin Building located along Pasong Tamo Avenue in Makati City. They are now under police custody except for Yeung.

Also composing the task group that conducted the raid were personnel from Globe's legal, technical and security departments.

Several electronic devices were seized during the said operation, including voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and global system for mobile communications (GSM).

The said equipment were utilized to connect calls from other countries to local customers by employing postpaid cellular phone lines from Globe but without passing through the switching facilities of licensed operations, which made it illegal.

This was done by inserting subscriber identification module (SIM) cards into a GSM equipment that is also connected to switching modules and routers instead of having it inserted into mobile phones.

Carrying such illegal operations also entails using VoIP gateways to bypass Globe switches.

This illegal operation is called ISR. It is technically defined as a method of rerouting and completing international long distance calls by using lines, cables, antennas, and/or airwave frequency which connect directly to the local or domestic exchange facilities of the country where the call is destined.

Globe claimed unauthorized resale of international voice calls is depriving the company of over P1 million in potential revenues per month. - Cristina C. Birondo