Cheaper cellphone calls by December, NTC says

By December, mobile phone users will enjoy cheaper voice calls since they will no longer be charged per minute, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said on Monday. Instead, cellphone voice calls will be charged on a per six second basis, an arrangement “based on pulse reading," in which a voice call lasting a minute is cut up into 10 pulses, a senior NTC official explained. “When a subscriber makes a call that lasts only for 10 seconds, he would be charged for 12 seconds," NTC deputy commissioner Douglas Michael Mallillin told reporters after a Senate hearing covering complaints against mobile phone companies. “If you call for six seconds, you’ll still pay for 12 seconds because the flag down is two pulses. If you make a call of 15 seconds, you will be charged for an 18-second pulse or three pulses," he added. This new arrangement is based on a July 23 memorandum circular released by the NTC, reportedly the third such issuance after the Senate began to hold hearings regarding mobile phone companies’ practices in June. Memorandum circular (MC 05-07-2009) imposes a maximum unit of billing for postpaid and prepaid cellular mobile telephone services at six seconds per pulse. Earlier, the NTC issued two orders, the first covering the extension of the prepaid credit expiration and the second about anti-spam messages. However, the rates under this arrangement are still subject to approval since the agency will study a separate proposal of telecommunications companies. Meanwhile, starting August 7, telecommunication companies will be given up to 30 days to submit their proposed flag down rates. One hundred twenty days after the same date, mobile phone companies should already have altered their hardware and software requirements to comply with the new six-second charging arrangement. Telecommunication companies need the time because a lot of hardware and software were built for one-minute charging, Mallillin said. Mobile phone companies would also be allowed to charge flag down rates to recover their set-up expenses. Cheaper voice calls may cut Filipinos’ texting habits Moreover, cheaper voice calls might change the current industry scenario, prompting Filipinos to talk on their phones instead of texting. “If it will be cheaper for you to make a call and get the response of the other party at the same time without them having to response through text, it may change the voice and the SMS relationship," the NTC official said. “Now you have a bulk of the revenues on SMS rather than on calls, with the 6-second pulse it might change the scenario." Telecoms companies agreed with the new billing system, making them comply with international best practices, Mallillin said. Although the arrangement “will practically change the financial scenario of [mobile phone] companies," it will nevertheless allow them to have an easier time settling bills with foreign companies. During the Senate hearing, the NTC said it decided to withdraw a memorandum circular whose implementation was prevented by a Quezon City regional trial court since 2000. Owing to this withdrawal, Quezon City Judge Vicente Baclig dismissed the case on July 23, thus giving the NTC a free hand to implement its mandate. The proposal was withdrawn because it can no longer be applied to the current situation, Mallillin said. Besides being issued nine years ago, the memorandum was issued at a time when there were only two million cellphone subscribers, he said. Around 75 million use cellphones in the Philippines, which has a population of 90 million. - GMANews.TV