Proposal seeks to charge telcos five centavos per text message

MANILA, Philippines - Three of the Philippines’ biggest telecommunication companies (telcos) were told on Thursday to comply with a proposal compelling them to pay a P5-centavo broad spectrum fee per text message to the government or have their records opened for official scrutiny. Quezon City Rep. Danilo Suarez, chair of the House Oversight committee, said he would file a congressional resolution ordering that the records of Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular be scrutinized if they refuse to heed the proposed P5-centavo fee per text message that might be imposed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). "If they will oppose it then I will have no alternative but to question [their] income," Suarez said, adding that telecommunication companies can be compelled to open their books for government scrutiny because "taxation is paramount." Suarez said he expects telcos to be "very combative" about the issue, as some of the firms' representatives have already opposed the proposal during the committee's public hearings held earlier in the year. Suarez's committee had earlier recommended that the cost of every text message be brought down from P1 to P50 centavos. Under the proposal, P5 centavos from the P50 centavos will be collected by the NTC to fund the purchase of a metering system – estimated to cost around $30 million – that will allow the agency and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to monitor telcos' messaging services. With an estimated 2 billion text messages being sent around the country everyday, the government can collect an P100 million every day, Suarez said. He added that the establishment of a metering system will also allow government agencies to verify information submitted by telcos. In its report, the Oversight committee said the BIR, the NTC, and the Securities and Exchange Commission have no capacity to validate the information being submitted by the telecommunications players which are used as the basis of their revenues and tax payments. "The three government agencies were merely recipients of information the validity of which they have no power to confirm or contest," the committee said. According to Suarez, the revenue generated from the broad spectrum fee will also be allotted for the computerization of all public elementary and secondary schools nationwide. He said there is no more need to create legislation imposing the P5-centavo broad spectrum fee because the NTC is already empowered by the Public Services Act to charge such fees. - GMANews.TV