Regulator cuts mobile call, SMS charge

By Denise A. Valdez
THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS Commission (NTC) has cut the interconnection charge for short message service (SMS) and mobile calls with the goal of making them “more affordable to the general public.”
Memorandum Circular No. 05-07-2018, dated July 19 and which takes effect 15 days from publication in a newspaper, reduces the charge to P0.05 per message from P0.15 previously for SMS and to P0.50 per minute from P2.50 for voice.
The new interconnection charge should be imposed not later than 20 days from the date the circular takes effect.
NTC noted in its circular that the average cost of interconnection in the last three years amounted to P0.486 per minute for mobile calls and P0.044 per message for SMS.
NTC also noted that the Philippines’ “prevailing interconnection charges for voice service and SMS are high compared to most of the ASEAN countries” as well as to those of India and Australia.
IMD World Competitiveness Center’s annual World Competitiveness Ranking 2018 showed the Philippines’ rank falling to 61^st out of 63 economies from 57^th last year in terms of “basic infrastructure” and to 46^th from 42^nd in terms of “technological infrastructure”, while its World Competitiveness Digital Ranking 2018 identified “communications technology”, in which the country placed 62^nd, as a key “overall top weakness.”
Asked on Thursday about the NTC circular’s effect on users’ mobile phone bills, Globe Telecom, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu told reporters in Taguig City that the company will still “have to assess whether it leads to lower rates,” while PLDT, Inc. Public Affairs Head Ramon R. Isberto said in an interview that the impact of the interconnection charge cut on retail rate “is not automatic.”
“If you notice, retail rates have gone down even if the interconnection charges are not moving,” Mr. Isberto said.
“What it affects is how we charge each other, not how much the consumer is charged.”
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in ����ý through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — with Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan