shiangtao
3rd Jul '09 Fri, 12:55
abs-cbnnews.com
MANILA - Prepaid mobile-phone subscribers have reason to rejoice nowadays.
The new rules on extension of prepaid load purchased by consumers will be signed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) today. “At 10 a.m. Friday, we will sign the memorandum circular [MC] on prepaid-load guidelines. The signing of the three other draft MCs that we are working on will be deferred pending the submission of position papers by the telcos on Monday,” said NTC Commissioner Ruel Canobas in a phone interview on Thursday.
The validity of a P10-or-less load credit is valid for up to three days;
up to seven days for P10-20 load;
up to 10 days for P20-30 load;
up to 14 days for P30-40 load;
up to 17 days for P40-P50 load;
20 days for P50-60 load;
up to 24 days for P60-70 load;
up to 21 days for P70-80 load;
up to 30 days for P80-90 load;
up to 45 days for P100-150 load;
up to 60 days for P150-200 load;
up to 90 days for P200-300 load;
up to 150 days for P300-600 load;
and up to 180 days for P600 to P1,000 load.
The validity period starts upon receipt of confirmation of the prepaid load purchased.
The NTC requires all mobile-phone operators to provide their subscribers call-data records upon request free of charge. Likewise, access to balance-inquiry service through text messages shall be free of charge.
“Pursuant to Republic Act 7925, Executive Order 546 series of 1979, and in order to protect and promote the interest of subscribers/end-users of prepaid services, the NTC promulgates the following guidelines,” the new MC reads.
Canobas said “it’s about time” the validity period of prepaid credits was extended. It is one of several major grievances that subscribers have raised against telcos the past several months, highlighted by the recent complaint by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile about the “vanishing load” on his mobile phone. That gripe led to a Senate inquiry, and sped up the process by which key reforms as demanded were embodied in draft circulars.
The three other circulars that the NTC is working on involves the shift of the unit of billing for cellular calls from per-minute to three-second per pulse, grouping of bucket pricing promotions and prohibitng spam messages.
“We still have a dialogue with the content providers in relation to the other MCs. So, the MC on extension of prepaid load is what will be signed first,” added the NTC chief.
Also, phone firms were ordered on Thursday to strictly observe the new rules issued by the commission on dropped calls.
Under NTC Memorandum Order 03-06-2009, or the Service Performance Standards for the Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS), the regulators are only allowing a drop-call rate (DCR) of 2 percent for every 100 calls.
DCR is the ratio of calls that are irregularly terminated as against the total number of call attempts. A dropped call is not the same as a blocked call. The NTC defines blocked calls as failed-attempt calls since there are no traffic channels that can be located in the first place. However, both dropped and blocked calls are normally caused by network congestion or hardware problems.
The latest order also spells out a new Grade of Service (GOS) of 4 percent, or four lost calls for every 100 call attempts.
Previously, the CMTS firms were encouraged to improve the GOS by 1 percent and DCR by 1 percent every two years until the GOS is 4 percent and the DCR is 2 percent.
“Since six years have already elapsed from the promulgation of Memorandum Circular 07-06-2002, the GOS and DCR should have improved by 3 percent each,” the circular stated.
Canobas said the NTC will randomly conduct monitoring tests to check if the companies are compliant with the updated standards on network quality. “It will be announced,” he said.
MANILA - Prepaid mobile-phone subscribers have reason to rejoice nowadays.
The new rules on extension of prepaid load purchased by consumers will be signed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) today. “At 10 a.m. Friday, we will sign the memorandum circular [MC] on prepaid-load guidelines. The signing of the three other draft MCs that we are working on will be deferred pending the submission of position papers by the telcos on Monday,” said NTC Commissioner Ruel Canobas in a phone interview on Thursday.
The validity of a P10-or-less load credit is valid for up to three days;
up to seven days for P10-20 load;
up to 10 days for P20-30 load;
up to 14 days for P30-40 load;
up to 17 days for P40-P50 load;
20 days for P50-60 load;
up to 24 days for P60-70 load;
up to 21 days for P70-80 load;
up to 30 days for P80-90 load;
up to 45 days for P100-150 load;
up to 60 days for P150-200 load;
up to 90 days for P200-300 load;
up to 150 days for P300-600 load;
and up to 180 days for P600 to P1,000 load.
The validity period starts upon receipt of confirmation of the prepaid load purchased.
The NTC requires all mobile-phone operators to provide their subscribers call-data records upon request free of charge. Likewise, access to balance-inquiry service through text messages shall be free of charge.
“Pursuant to Republic Act 7925, Executive Order 546 series of 1979, and in order to protect and promote the interest of subscribers/end-users of prepaid services, the NTC promulgates the following guidelines,” the new MC reads.
Canobas said “it’s about time” the validity period of prepaid credits was extended. It is one of several major grievances that subscribers have raised against telcos the past several months, highlighted by the recent complaint by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile about the “vanishing load” on his mobile phone. That gripe led to a Senate inquiry, and sped up the process by which key reforms as demanded were embodied in draft circulars.
The three other circulars that the NTC is working on involves the shift of the unit of billing for cellular calls from per-minute to three-second per pulse, grouping of bucket pricing promotions and prohibitng spam messages.
“We still have a dialogue with the content providers in relation to the other MCs. So, the MC on extension of prepaid load is what will be signed first,” added the NTC chief.
Also, phone firms were ordered on Thursday to strictly observe the new rules issued by the commission on dropped calls.
Under NTC Memorandum Order 03-06-2009, or the Service Performance Standards for the Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS), the regulators are only allowing a drop-call rate (DCR) of 2 percent for every 100 calls.
DCR is the ratio of calls that are irregularly terminated as against the total number of call attempts. A dropped call is not the same as a blocked call. The NTC defines blocked calls as failed-attempt calls since there are no traffic channels that can be located in the first place. However, both dropped and blocked calls are normally caused by network congestion or hardware problems.
The latest order also spells out a new Grade of Service (GOS) of 4 percent, or four lost calls for every 100 call attempts.
Previously, the CMTS firms were encouraged to improve the GOS by 1 percent and DCR by 1 percent every two years until the GOS is 4 percent and the DCR is 2 percent.
“Since six years have already elapsed from the promulgation of Memorandum Circular 07-06-2002, the GOS and DCR should have improved by 3 percent each,” the circular stated.
Canobas said the NTC will randomly conduct monitoring tests to check if the companies are compliant with the updated standards on network quality. “It will be announced,” he said.