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THE national government seeks to improve telecommunications services by bringing in new player and driving direct competition. Will this work? It is viewed that the lack of effective competition in the sector has led to higher prices, poor quality or levels of service, and considerably less innovation – all at the expense of consumers.
Telecommunications is a necessity, a very important public utility, and, a strategic industry for bridging development from urban city centers to rural areas. It is also crucial for the communication needs of our people spread across the archipelago and those living and working abroad. As such, it is the government’s responsibility to provide affordable, accessible, and efficient telecommunications services to its citizens. It is every Filipino’s right to have access to low-cost and efficient telecommunications services for everyday, basic communication.
However, the government, due to its liberalization and deregulation policies, its inability or refusal to confront the existence of cartels or an oligopoly / duopoly in the telecommunications sector, has failed to uphold consumer rights. Low call and text rates remain the exception, rather than the rule. Even as cellular sites can now handle more calls and messages compared to a decade ago, they still charge rates that for the poor majority would take a sizable portion of their income.
There is no transparency in the true costs of mobile phone services in the pricing of the duopoly of in our telcos, which enables them to impose onerous charges. Prepaid subscribers often are left blind as to how some of their credits were consumed, if they were indeed consumed at all. The credit or load expiration is also a dubious practice. Postpaid subscribers meanwhile bewail a lack of transparency on the charges levied against them as found in billing statements.
NTC has consistently avoided resolving the non-transparency and the irregularities of mobile phone service providers, invoking the supposed deregulation of the telecommunications industry through Republic Act 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act. This government neglect and oligopolistic exploitation cannot go on unchecked.
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