|
CONSUMER
group TXTPower has urged the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Bureau
of Internal Revenue (BIR) to work together and find a
way to refund consumers for the text- messaging fees
imposed by mobile- phone firms.
In a
statement, TXTPower said it supports a call by
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and several
members of Congress who want to abolish the SMS (short
message service) fees, currently pegged at P1 each.
“We hope
the DOTC secretary has ordered his staff to calculate
how much the telcos owe consumers since they started
charging for text messaging. All these illegal charges
must be refunded. The refunds should also cover the VAT
[value-added tax] illegally levied on text messaging,
not just the illegal telco charges,” said TXTPower.
It added
that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
and the BIR should work together to find out the
“quickest and most fair way of undertaking a refund” of
the alleged illegal charges.
“We have
long argued that text messaging is a built-in service of
the GSM (global system for mobile communications)
standard used by telcos and should, thus, be provided
for free but government refuses to listen. We are thus
surprised by the sudden turnaround of the DOTC secretary
and members of Congress. We expect them to uphold the
law regarding franchises and to correct their oversight
that allowed the telcos to fleece consumers up to now,”
said TXTPower.
Over the
weekend, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of
the Committee on Information and Communications
Technology, called for the amendment of Republic Act
7925, or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of
1995.
Specifically, Santiago cited the removal of the
12-percent limit on the phone firms’ income and the
3-percent franchise tax on gross receipts. He said these
provisions should be restored. If the telcos exceed the
cap, Santiago said the National Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) could order the telcos to lower the
fees they charge consumers.
Meanwhile, phone firms are mum on the proposals to
abolish text-messaging fees and have their franchises
reviewed by Congress.
Ray
Espinosa, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)
Group head for regulatory affairs and policy, said the
phone giant is authorized to offer text messaging
service and impose charges, as well.
“The
provision of SMS [short-message service] 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.
NTC
director Edgardo Cabarios, meanwhile, refused to
comment, saying Mendoza’s statement is a “policy
matter.”
“Only
the commissioners can comment on that. It is hard to
comment on something that has to do with policy matters.
What NTC can only do is…comply with policy directions,”
Cabarios added. |
