TELECOMMUNICATIONS firms have asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to give them 10 more days to file their comments on the reduction of NTC interconnection charges.

Interconnection or access charges are the rate paid by carrier for every minute of call or for every text that passes through the network of another carrier. The current access charge for SMS is P0.35 per text and P4 per minute for voice calls between cellular networks with separate networks.

If the NTC is successful in implementing the proposed cap on access charges—P0.15 on short messaging service (SMS) and P1.50 on voice call—the SMS retail rate is estimated to cost anywhere between P0.40 to P0.60 per text from the current P1.

Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. made the request, saying they need more time to study and file their respective position papers.

The three telecom companies said the NTC-proposed policy needs to be seriously evaluated.

“Management discussions are still ongoing,” said Globe head for regulatory affairs Froilan Castelo.

Digitel also told the NTC it is still in the process of consolidating and evaluating data and documents to come up “with an intelligent position paper,” senior vice president William Pamintuan revealed in a text message.

The NTC said it will consolidate the comments from the carriers as well as the views of lawmakers who are doing their own study on lowering the cost of text messages. “At the end of the day, congressmen will make their recommendation and we will take note of that,” NTC deputy commissioner Jorge Sarmiento said.

The carriers were initially given until June 16 to submit their position papers. Their first request for extension expired July 1.

Interconnection charges represent about 21 percent of the cellular firms’ operating revenues.

The NTC said Globe earned about P14 billion, while the PLDT group generated P17 billion in 2006.

“The amount of course was much more last year because their subscriber base also grew. They earn a substantial amount from interconnection charges,” added Sarmiento.

The PLDT group handles roughly a billion SMS traffic a day. Globe’s network tracks 500 million to 700 million text messages daily, while Sun Cellular handles 80 million to 100 million a day.

3 telcos buy time on access-charge cut

TELECOMMUNICATIONS firms have asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to give them 10 more days to file their comments on the reduction of NTC interconnection charges.

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