NTC considers sanctioning telcos over ‘poor’ services

Telecoms watchdog the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is considering plans to sanction local telcos found guilty of providing a poor level of services in the Philippines, including a possible ban on them signing up new customers. GMA News quotes Senator Franklin Drilon, chair of the finance committee, as saying that he has asked the regulator to report on what measures it has in place to redress the problems of poor services from some carriers. ‘The consumers look at you as the regulatory agency and, in my view, there appears to be no regulation at all for the benefit of the public, given the kind of service we are getting from these companies,’ Drilon is quoted as saying. In response, NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba has said that the agency is considering possible sanctions against telcos providing a sub-par service, under the remit of the Public Service Law. However, he notes that the maximum fine the NTC can impose under the law is just PHP200 (USD4.81) per day, and as such, is studying the possibility of imposing new provisions on delinquent carriers that may include barring them from signing up new subscribers until they meet minimum service levels. Cordoba hopes that such a move would at least ensure that underperforming telcos can no longer go ‘from bad to worse’ and said that he hopes to implement the new rules once the NTC completes its third-quarter benchmarking report in September.