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SMART
Communications Inc. yesterday said that if rival Globe
Telecom wants to participate in the promo offerings of
the cellular units of Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Co. (PilTel) then it should apply for it.
“Globe
should apply. We can not offer our promo to them first
because we can not reveal to our competitors what we are
planning to offer to the public. Upon launch of the
promos, they can ask us to join but we will never
initiate,” said Rogelio Quevedo, legal counsel for Smart
and Pilipino Telephone Corp., or Piltel.
Globe
had accused Smart and PilTel of engaging in
discriminatory practices because they are extending to
each other favorable rates without offering the same to
Globe.
“The
absurdity of asking for a similar access charge actually
reflects on the competence of the lawyers. Perhaps it
would be better if they inquire from their technical
people that operating under the same network does not
mean that access charges are necessary,” Quevedo said.
Under
the ‘All Text Plus’ promo of Smart and PilTel, text
messages from Smart to PilTel charges only P0.177 per
text message, while PilTel’s ‘Gaan Text Plus 10,’ text
messages from PilTel to Smart charges only P0.12 per
message.
These
rates, said Globe, are far below the prevailing SMS, or
short message service, interconnect charge of P0.40 per
message.
Access
charges, said Quevedo, are merely supposed to cover the
cost of interconnection. “Piltel and Smart do not need
any interconnection because they are under the same
network that is the reason why access charges should be
similar only if carriers are similarly situated.” |
