Group supports zero text charges, wants refund

MANILA, Philippines - A militant consumer group threw its support Saturday night behind a bid by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and some lawmakers to remove charges in short message service (SMS) or text messaging. But TXTPower also batted for a refund of what it perceives as "illegal" charges leveled on consumers, including the value-added tax (VAT) that it said was "illegally levied" on text messages. "We have long argued that text messaging is a built-in service of the GSM standard used by (telecommunication companies) and should thus be provided for free but government refuses to listen,” the group said in a statement posted on its website. “We are thus surprised by the sudden turn around of the DOTC secretary and members of Congress. We expect them to uphold the law regarding franchises and to correct their oversight that allowed the telcos to fleece consumers up to now," it added. TXTPower also urged the National Telecommunications Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to find out how much the telecommunications firms and the government owe the consumers. Both agencies should also find out soonest the quickest and most fair way of undertaking a refund, it added. "We are prepared to face the telcos, the NTC and the BIR before any forum because we have long waited for this chance to expose the highway robbery on consumers: the mislabeling of text messaging as a value-added service, the NTC's assent, the illegal charging and the illegal slapping of VAT and the long silence over these by the government," TXTPower said. "We have friends who are experts in the fields of mobile telephony and electronics and communications engineering who back us up and would surely sound advice to the DOTC secretary and Congress on the technological basis for removing text messaging charges," it added. - GMANews.TV