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Two of
the country’s telecommunications companies don’t want to
pay a portion of their interconnection fees to PLDT,
citing a circular issued by a government agency. The
phone giant, however, is not expected to take this move
sitting down.
Digital
Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) and
Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) opined
that they will no longer be paying Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) the transport charges,
citing a provision of the circular issued by the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) entitled
“Rules on Interconnection of LEC (local exchange
carriers) in local calling areas.”
Digitel
said it will no longer pay P22.8 million in annual fees
representing transport charges imposed by the phone
giant for carrying its calls. The listed phone unit of
JG Summit Holdings, Inc. stated in its filing with the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that the
July 2007 circular superseded their interconnection
agreement with PLDT.
“Digitel
submits that MC 09-07-2007 has the force and effect of
law and is deemed to have amended any agreement between
PLDT and Digitel on payment of interconnection and
access charges within a local calling area. Therefore,
Digitel shall no longer be liable to any interconnection
or access charge for calls within ‘02’ calling area,”
said Digitel counsels led by senior vice president
William Pamintuan. It further said the so-called
transport charge is nothing else but an access charge, a
fee which the NTC had already abolished.
NTC
director for common carrier authorization division
Edgardo Cabarios said Digitel had informed the
commission about this issue and has requested
arbitration because PLDT disagreed and claimed that the
transport charge is not inconsistent with the NTC
circular.
“The
matter has been submitted to the legal department
already. There are hearings going on. The case will be
submitted for resolution soon,” said Cabarios in a phone
interview.
PT&T, in
a similar complaint against the phone giant, said PLDT
has recouped investments on the facilities.
PT&T
noted that PLDT has been charging it P500 to P800 per
trunk per month. “Apparently, PLDT has already recovered
their capital investments,” said PT&T in a separate
filing.
The
company added that the P519,120-monthly access charge
being billed by PLDT for all trunks that interconnect
both exchanges in the ‘02’ service area is no longer
needed because of the circular’s provision which states
that “both PT&T and PLDT shall honor rent free… which
refers to LEC-LEC access outside PT&T service area, but
within the same ‘02’ calling area.” Accordingly, PT&T
asked that PLDT amend their interconnection agreement.
Digitel
also said it would no longer be paying PLDT P800 per
circuit per month on the ‘02’ calling area. “The
transport charge is nothing else but an interconnection
fee that the MC 09-07-2007 has disallowed within the
‘02’ calling area. Digitel has no exchanges in all the
13 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila affecting
its subscribers in Cainta, Quezon City and Antipolo,
which PLDT imposes transport charge,” said Digitel.
“The use
of the PLDT network from the POI [point of
interconnection] is an integral and indispensable part
of interconnection. Without it, there can be no access
between Digitel and PLDT subscribers. No transport
charge, no interconnection or access. Surely such
charge, by whatever name, is a fee which MC 09-07-2007
has, in no uncertain terms, disallowed within the
numbering plan area,” Digitel said.
Cabarios
said both companies have different interpretations of
access and transport charges. “The intent of the
circular is to eliminate the interconnection access
charge. The issue here is whether the transport charge
is included in the interconnection access charge,” he
said.
PLDT,
according to its lawyer Fernando Sobierra III, agrees
with the elimination of the access charge as embodied in
the circular but asserted that it is different from the
transport charge. It added that there is no need to
amend its interconnection agreement with PT&T because
the NTC circular does not mean the cancellation of its
monthly bills to PT&T.
“PLDT
does not impose transport charge in common service areas
and only do so when PLDT has to transport traffic for
PT&T from the POI to several of PLDT’s tandem switches
in different areas outside of PT&T’s service area. This
is exactly what the circular provides,” said the PLDT
lawyer.
PLDT
defines transport charge as a facility charge for
transporting calls from a PLDT local exchange to another
local exchange beyond the point of interconnection
(POI). The phone giant said the concept of transport
charge is an accepted industry practice as the fees pay
for the use of facilities.
For
areas where a carrier has no physical presence and thus
need to rely on existing facilities of the established
carrier, just compensation is necessary for the
incumbent carrier to recover cost for the continuous
need to expand facilities as well as recover costs for
maintenance.
PLDT
further said the incumbent carrier incur costs for
hauling traffic beyond the POI which, in the interest of
fair and acceptable business practice, needs to be
recovered.
“Removing the right to charge transport cost results in
the unfair sharing of responsibilities between parties,
thereby depriving the incumbent from earning appropriate
returns on capital invested,” said PLDT. |
