And the Telecom War is on...

[alwayz_yummy]

ako,kmi mag-asawa TM muna....ok naman so far so good....bwisit na PLDT yan...

10/call NDD..noong tumawag kami ok lang daw operator assisted,ngayon,sabi sa hardware,nang tumawag ulit di daw pwede operator assisted!

kainis..bakit di agad sinabi...siguro mahigit 4K ang bill ko(not including DSL and line fee)

[BlueBimmer]

mga pare at mare, mag TM nalang kayo, peak hours 1 dial lang pasok na, for 30 mins pa! signal palagi full bar! now thats unlimited! hindi hilaw na unlimited!

[GlennSter]

bluebimmer!!kaw ha!!lumipat ka na!!dati loyal ka sa sun!bwahrharhar

[BlueBimmer]

ay naka SUN pa rin ako...naka dualsim kc hehehehe

[av8or5]

mga pare at mare, mag TM nalang kayo, peak hours 1 dial lang pasok na, for 30 mins pa! signal palagi full bar! now thats unlimited! hindi hilaw na unlimited!

nicely said blue bimmer...as a consumer...better ang tm compared to all other unlimited calls offered by other cellular companies in the philippines...and it's not because i work for Globe..TM has no special dialing procedures, not hard to connect and the longest duration. No bias here bros & sis

[mazdamazda]

nicely said blue bimmer...as a consumer...better ang tm compared to all other unlimited calls offered by other cellular companies in the philippines...and it's not because i work for Globe..TM has no special dialing procedures, not hard to connect and the longest duration. No bias here bros & sis

if i may... ;)

the real challenge for Globe / TM is to offer it as a regular service (and not just a promo) and to include postpaid subs... though doing the latter is tantamount to opening the proverbial pandora's box...

[BlueBimmer]

yes...regular service...

[alwayz_yummy]

ako,kaming magasawa... WE'RE SATISFIED TM USER! !

REGULAR NA....pls??pati globe sabit na din....i like it..2x95(sim card)+2x300(load)=780pesos...i choose the 15 days beacuse i need load to text other networks,including globe ..

30min to 1 hour..till "battery empty" club here....

[cyberdoc95]

NTC pushes 6-second billing scheme for mobile phones
Posted: 10:37 PM | Mar. 27, 2005

Clarissa S. Batino
Inquirer News Service

THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is requesting the Office of the Solicitor General to help resolve a five-year-old legal impasse on a policy that would require mobile phone companies to bill customers on a six-second pulse cycle.

An NTC circular issued in 2000 directed phone companies to bill by the six-second pulse instead of rounding off charges to the higher minute. But the major players obtained an injunction from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

The circular also ordered the telecom firms to register the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards of prepaid customers to help regulate the industry by preventing text scams and discouraging phone theft. The billing circular never got implemented.

"We have asked the OSG to help us expedite and find a favorable resolution to this billing circular. It would be to the interest of the consumers," NTC chairman Ronald Solis said.

Solis said the regulator would immediately implement the billing circular once the court lifts the restraining order.

The TRO issued by the Quezon City court was questioned by the NTC before the Court of Appeals. It was brought to the Supreme Court, which remanded the case to the Quezon City court in 2003.

Isabela Representative Rodolfo Albano said the billing circular should be resolved immediately.

"It has been four years since that injunction. There should be moves to lift that because the billing circular would be good for consumers," Albano said.

The shift to a six-second pulse scheme would make it cheaper for consumers to make calls. The billing measure was originally meant to address a pervasive problem with dropped calls starting in the late 1990s.

Mobile companies said they have solved the problem of dropped calls or those that were prematurely terminated by the network but were still charged to subscribers.

Albano said the major players should refund consumers or at least pay more taxes to the government out of the billions in pesos they were making from network inefficiency.

He claimed that phone giants that have been earning billions each year must be ordered to pay back consumers or at least the government the amount they had overcharged in the past due to their poor network service.

Albano said he would initiate moves in Congress to revive plans of the NTC to revise the billing structure of telephone companies.

Representative. Danilo Suarez, vice chair of the House ways and means committee, earlier estimated that mobile phone operators make between seven billion and 10 billion pesos each year from dropped calls.

Suarez authored a bill calling for the imposition of a franchise tax on telecom firms for the use of the airwaves and also for poor service.

Suarez said telecom firms must adopt the six-second billing cycle or to start billing a call only after the first minute to ensure that subscribers were not paying more than what they should for a call that may be cut within a one-minute billing period.

Officials of Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, the country's two largest mobile phone firms, have said they now offer seamless connections and that their systems can now distinguish between a network drop and those calls deliberately terminated by subscribers.

Globe has almost 4,000 cellular sites nationwide while Smart has about 5,000 all over the country. Third player Sun Cellular has about 1,300 cellular sites and said it would expand its network to about 2,000 this year so it could accommodate six million customers.

[mazdamazda]

predatory pricing?

Sun Cellular, the impossible ‘predator’
HINDSIGHT By Josefina T. Lichauco
The Philippine STAR 03/21/2005

(Conclusion)
As I mentioned last week, the two giant players– PLDT/Smart/Piltel, as one group and Globe/Innove as the other – should devise their own "gimmicks" instead of shouting "predatory pricing." And devise, they certainly did! Touch Mobile, a brand of Globe, launched its "Todo Text and Tawag Promo" on March 9 while Smart/Piltel launched their own "25/8 Unlimited Call and Text Promo" on the 11th. And this is great for the subscribing public. We now have a great buffet of choices – choices, however, that should go with good service which is very critical in a competitive environment.

The issue against Sun Cellular earlier brought by the two giant companies and their subsidiaries, on the poor service that Sun Cellular is being accused as guilty of, is a separate issue altogether from the fundamental issue of whether Sun Cellular should be allowed to continue with the 24/7 unlimited service.

Not too long ago, as the two giants commenced their operations, they also went through start-up pains, which affected their subscribing public. NTC’s service standards, though a separate issue from the right to introduce these seductive unlimited services, have to be complied with. Because of our competitive environment, and as the consuming public goes through and picks their choices, good service is of the greatest importance.

Of course, there are differences existing among the promotional devices that the three entities have introduced. Globe’s Touch Mobile Todo Tawag and Text Promo allows its subscribers to make unlimited call and text service for 30 days at a cost of P300, and 15 days at P150. And for solely unlimited text service the cost is P50 for five days, but of course the call and text pertains only to Touch Mobile-to-Touch Mobile calls and texts. In the case of Smart’s 28/5 Call and Text Unlimited Promo, which really sounds and seems like such a big deal, it allows subscribers of Smart pre-paid, Talk and Text pre-paid, Addict Mobile pre-paid, and Smart Kid pre-paid, to use the unlimited call service for P115 for 10 days. For the unlimited test only service, the charge is P60 for six days. As is obvious, Smart refrained from offering a combined call and text unlimited package. The arithmetic of this boils down to the fact that if a customer wants to take advantage of unlimited call and text service for 30 days, it will cost him P645 (P115 x 3 for 30 days of unlimited call service and P60 x 5 for 30 days of unlimited text service).

There is therefore a price differential. Smart’s 25/8, gloriously announced in the press recently, does not allow the subscriber to dial directly the number of the person the subscriber wants to call. The 25/8 subscriber will have to text 258 and send to 883 (unlimited text) and 889 (unlimited calls), the number of the person he or she wants to call and, of course, wait for the call to get connected after which the ring back tone will materialize.

There is delay therefore which could be annoying, the connection does not arrive in a timely manner and obviously is dependent on the number of calls that are on queue. In other words, said queuing line could be rather long and naturally, the longer one has to wait to get connected. And if the Smart subscriber is in a hurry and can’t wait for the call any longer, then he must have to dial directly the number of the person he or she wants to contact but then, mind you, he will have to pay the regular rate of P6.50 per minute, aside from going through some degree of annoyance. It is therefore correct to say that under Smart’s 25/8 service, a user who can pay more, i.e., the P6.50 per minute can get an immediate connection, while those who can’t afford this rate will have to wait until their calls are connected through the 883 and 889 queue or lining up mode.

I have great friends at both Globe’s and Smart’s legal services. Globe’s Atty. Rodolfo Salalima, who just recently was given an award in the practice of law from his alma mater, San Beda College, has been part of all the Philippine delegations to the conferences that I have headed and is an extremely sharp lawyer. Smart’s Atty. Roger Quevedo, likewise when he was still with BellTel, was part of the delegation, another sharp lawyer whose contribution to telecom development in our country cannot be refuted. They’re both excellent friends of mine, but in making a detailed study of the details of each scheme involved in what is now called the telecommunications price war, I cannot truly see what significant advantages the subscribing public gains. The carriers have to be on their toes; they have to be ingenious; they have to be ahead; and, which I think is the most important, the service they provide has to be in tip-top shape. The NTC does not really have to over-regulate or over-monitor, because they are certainly aware that service no matter how cheaply they offer it, has to be good, otherwise, the customer will drop them.

Aside from the above specifics of each scheme, in the case of the unlimited service of both Sun Cellular and Touch Mobile, the same is limited to intra-network calls only — Sun-to-Sun and Touch-to-Touch calls only. This unlimited service is not being offered to inter-network calls due to what is called, and is a very critical factor in the pricing, the "Access Charge" that the network operator has to pay which at present is P4 per minute.

And now let’s go back to the dirty word "predatory pricing" and add other dirty words like monopolistic control and industry cartelization which are what the regulatory body has to take a good look at, in connection with the giant PLDT/Smart/Piltel combination.

Under Smart’s 25/8, inter-network calls between Smart and Piltel are allowed under the unlimited call service. This may be considered discriminatory because Smart and Piltel do allow unlimited inter-network calling when there is supposedly an access charge of P4 that’s got to be paid for inter-network calling.

If Smart and Piltel are not charging this access charge, then they may be accused of discriminatory pricing since they are imposing access charges on other carriers for calls to their network. And if Smart and Piltel postulate that they in fact actually pay access charges for Smart-Piltel or Piltel-Smart calls, they could be charged with predatory pricing. This is because it is quite evident that they are pricing their unlimited service below cost for inter-network calls as they absorb the P4 access charge in exchange for unlimited service. And here is where Smart, the giant who ranks as the No. 1 money-maker among all Philippine companies in business with net income as basis, could be really vulnerable.

By the way, the P10 per call promo of PLDT runs the danger of being considered discriminatory and predatory. A PLDT subscriber can make a call of unlimited duration to a PLDT line of a Smart and Piltel subscriber for P10 per call. Since PLDT is duty bound to pay Smart/Piltel P4 per minute access charge, the unlimited call for P10 to Smart/Piltel, PLDT can be vulnerable to the predatory charge. Simply put, a 10-minute call to Smart, PLDT will have to pay Smart P40 as access charge, but is actually charging only P10 under the promo. It is quite clear to me that here is where the word predatory applies.

Here is where the need truly lies for the NTC or even Congress to take a good look at the procedures and anti-competitive processes and the dynamics in the determination of rates and charges for mobile phone services.

I received 68 e-mails reacting to Part One of this article and I am grateful for each of them. It is because of these readers that the era of monopolistic control and the stink and the evils of cartelization of a very critical industry of our country will not be allowed to rear its hideous head ever again.
* * *
Thanks for your e-mails sent to jtl*pldtdsl.net.

[mantoy]

nice article sir mazdamazda. parang gusto kong bumili ng 2 TM simcards ah. :D

[silver_corolla]

"Under Smart’s 25/8, inter-network calls between Smart and Piltel are allowed under the unlimited call service. This may be considered discriminatory because Smart and Piltel do allow unlimited inter-network calling when there is supposedly an access charge of P4 that’s got to be paid for inter-network calling.

If Smart and Piltel are not charging this access charge, then they may be accused of discriminatory pricing since they are imposing access charges on other carriers for calls to their network. And if Smart and Piltel postulate that they in fact actually pay access charges for Smart-Piltel or Piltel-Smart calls, they could be charged with predatory pricing. This is because it is quite evident that they are pricing their unlimited service below cost for inter-network calls as they absorb the P4 access charge in exchange for unlimited service. And here is where Smart, the giant who ranks as the No. 1 money-maker among all Philippine companies in business with net income as basis, could be really vulnerable."

She doesn't even know what she's talking about. Pa define mo muna sa kanya ang ibig sabihin ng INTER-NETWORK CALLS para naman hindi mag mukhang tanga ang mag nagbabasa at niniwala sa article nya. hehe...

[silver_corolla]

Inter-network calls is different from intra-network calls. SMART to PILTEL calls are considered INTRA-NETWORK calls merely because they're using the same GSM Network which is SMART.

Mahirap talagang basta basta ka na lang naniniwala sa sabi-sabi..... nagiging kakatawanan tuloy ang mga tao. hehe.... Warning lang ha..... pag pinatalon kayo sa building ng reporter (Josefina T. Lichauco) na yon, wag ka munang tatalon ha? mag-isip muna tayo. hehe....

[pissword]

sir silver_corolla... alam niya ang intra at inter...

kasi sinabi nya ang tungkol sa TM and GLOBE...

kung katulad mo mag isip ang lahat ng taga smart.. no wonder nga walang nangyari sa unlimited ng smart... mangogoyo pa

[mazdamazda]

sir silver_corolla... alam niya ang intra at inter...

kasi sinabi nya ang tungkol sa TM and GLOBE...

isn't it that Piltel & Smart are two separate legal entities? so why treat calls from one another as inter-network?

TM & Globe are the ones playing it safe & fair by offering *real* intra-network CTU.

kung katulad mo mag isip ang lahat ng taga smart.. no wonder nga walang nangyari sa unlimited ng smart... mangogoyo pa

also notice how the *specialist* dodges the PLDT to Smart / Piltel call issue.

[pissword]

haha.. nandun sa kabilang thread ang sagot niya sir mazda about PLDT and smart...

[mazdamazda]

haha.. nandun sa kabilang thread ang sagot niya sir mazda about PLDT and smart...

as you said... landline to wireless... 'nuff said...

[silver_corolla]

isn't it that Piltel & Smart are two separate legal entities? so why treat calls from one another as inter-network?.....

Ano 'to? Nagtatanong ka ba o Nanghuhula? Ask na lang NTC for your realization and enlightenment. hehe....

[av8or5]

children...calm down....we only work for the telco business...wag patulan...as i always say, any gsm company can dish out the same services, same promos, same network structure, but what is important is the consumers welfare and happiness. no gsm technology is perfect. okay., let's all shake hands and let's tsikot away.

[BlueBimmer]

yes play nice children