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PANGLAO,
Bohol—This sounds like good—albeit controversial—news to
texters, or short-messaging system (SMS) users, who have
put the country on the world map as having the most
number of avid SMS users.
The
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)
Wednesday floated the idea of abolishing the charges on
text messages, and quickly drew protests from the telcos.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza made the
announcement here, while conceding that this issue would
be more explosive than the rates of the Manila Electric
Co. (Meralco).
“Pinag-aaralan
na [It is being studied],” Mendoza said, referring
to the abolition of SMS charges, and the reduction of
cell-phone charges, adding that telephone companies have
applied for voice franchise only.
He said
the Philippines has one of the highest rates in cellular
phones in
Asia, “Texting
should be free,” he added.
Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
and industry players were surprised by
Mendoza’s
remarks.
Ray
Espinosa, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)
Group head for regulatory affairs and policy, said the
phone giant is authorized to offer text messaging and
impose charges as well.
“The
provision of SMS is well within the legal authority of
Smart and Piltel. We would defer making any further
comment until we see the result of the DOTC study,” said
Espinosa in a text-message.
Globe
Telecom officials were unavailable for comment
Wednesday.
NTC
director Edgardo Cabarios, meanwhile, refused to
comment, saying Mendoza’s statement is a “policy
matter.”
“Only
the commissioners cannot comment on that. It is hard to
comment on something that has to do with policy matters.
What NTC can only do is to comply with policy
directions,” added Cabarios.
Meanwhile, former NTC commissioner Ronald Solis said
mobile phone firms can charge cellular subscribers for
text messaging.
“They
can offer value-added services and charge subscribers
for that because SMS is a value-added service,” he said.
Consumer
group TXTPower noted that in other countries cellular
firms do not charge subscribers for SMS. |
