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TXTPower scores NTC for 'siding' with telcos


MANILA, Philippines - Saying it is sending the wrong signal, a militant consumer group scored the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Tuesday for "siding" with telecommunications firms in suspending unlimited text and call services during the holidays. TXTPower president Tonyo Cruz branded as "pathetic" the NTC's arguments to justify the decision of Smart and Globe networks in suspending the unlimited text and call promos. "The National Telecommunications Commission has chosen to side with Smart and Globe in the pathetic attempt to justify the suspension of 'unlimited' texting and calling during the holidays. In so doing, the NTC is ensuring that only the telcos are merry this Christmas and happy this New Year," he said in an article he wrote on the TXTPower website. "For consumers, this is a classic case of network abuse – abuse by the network themselves – and abetted by what should have been the government regulator," he added. He said what is clear is that the NTC and the telcos denied the public last Christmas and will again deny this New Year's Day the opportunity to avail of the cheapest call and text rates especially during the most joyful holiday dates. Cruz pointed out this is the first time that "unlimited" services were suspended during the holidays. On the other hand, he lamented the telcos cash in on the exchange of holiday greetings that are paid for using the regular and more expensive rates. "We also wonder how and why the telcos and the NTC would have the gall to accuse the public of 'abusing the networks' during the holidays when telco executives themselves have proudly claimed year-round to having redundant network capacity for instant and clear digital calls and text. We also must not forget that even regular, the NTC has found this claim to be false in the agency's call quality survey that was published recently," he said. He urged Congress to summon the NTC and the telco chief executive officers and make them explain and answer questions on how the telcos have used their congressional franchises and government licenses, their current actual network capacities, their total subscription base, and why they have continued to offer "unlimited" services only as promos. The NTC must also explain what steps it has taken to ensure superior and affordable mobile phone services, he added. "Indeed, this issue is more than the lack of adequate information. The telcos have always been inclined publish tiny ads for such service advisories compared to their wholesale ads – and the NTC and the DTI don't see any problem with such a practice that hoodwinks the consumers," he said. "It is about their insatiable greed for profit and their inclination to lie and to deceive the public who ironically made them the giants they are today. It is about the absence of meaningful regulation in an industry where two companies monopolize the market and gang up on consumers with cartel-like operations," he added. - GMANews.TV
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