Nograles pushes lower cost of voice calls

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Prospero Nograles urged telecommunications companies (telcos) yesterday to reduce the cost not only of text messages but also of voice calls.

Nograles cited the “Call All” offer of telco giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which he said would give customers an affordable option in making voice calls.

“This Call All program of PLDT is just one of the many innovative steps that can make life easier for millions of Filipinos, whether they are from the slums or the ritzy mansions of Forbes Park,” he said.

Nograles said affordable text and voice calls “are great social equalizers.”

“And I’m glad that one of our telcos is taking great strides to make it happen,” he said.

Nograles urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to encourage offers such as “Call All” by issuing adequate rules that would enable such services to flourish.

On Friday, largely upon the prodding of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and other senators, the NTC issued a memorandum extending the duration of cellular phone loads.

A P10 load, previously good for one day, will now last three days. A P300 load that was good for one month before would now allow a subscriber to use it up in four months.

This effectively reduces the cost of texting and calling on the part of a customer since it allows him longer time to exhaust his load.

Before, a P300 load that was not exhausted in one month was forfeited.

Congressmen, including Nograles, earlier called on telcos to reduce the cost of mobile phone service.

One lawmaker even threatened to have the finances of telcos audited in an effort to prove that they have been raking in tens of billions of pesos in net profits and return on their investments, which is the reason why they should reduce mobile phone service costs.

Congressmen can make good such threat, since it is in the House of Representatives that the grant of legislative franchises to telcos is initiated.

The telcos, however, simply ignored the congressmen’s pleas until Enrile came in.

Enrile’s problem was his vanishing cell phone load. The Senate president delivered a privilege speech calling for the investigation of telcos over the disappearing loads.

In two Senate hearings, telcos could not sufficiently explain why there was a short duration for cell phone loads and why such loads were disappearing.

Senators berated NTC officials for failing to protect the public from the telcos’ “greed.” They threatened to abolish NTC if it did not do its job.

They called for the reduction of the cost of voice calls by charging customers on the basis of a six-second instead of a one-minute duration.

At present, a call costs P8 per minute. A 30-second call costs P8 just the same. Under the six-second-duration proposal, such call would cost only P4 instead of P8.

Charging customers on the basis of a six-second duration is the standard in other countries. The NTC said it has the power to require telcos to follow such standard but has inexplicably failed to do so.