A party-list group on Thursday filed a complaint before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against big telecommunications companies (telcos), in connection with the country’s “slow, but expensive, Internet connection.”
Party-list Bayan Muna, in a petition, demanded better Internet service from telcos, particularly Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT).
The petition also urged the NTC to investigate Globe and PLDT; order them to give an across-the-board refund/rebate to all their consumers, in an amount to be determined as fair and equitable; and order payment of fines, in an amount commensurate to the damage and prejudice to the consumers.
The group wants the NTC to refer the case to the Philippine Competition Commission for determination of anticompetitive behavior and abuse of market by Globe and PLDT and other Internet-service providers (ISPs).
It also asked the telecommunications commission to order respondents to provide Internet speed at their maximum advertised speed at least 90 percent of the time during the period of subscription.
Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna said that, “we have long been suffering from one of the slowest Internet speeds in the world, and so we hope that the NTC would act on this immediately.”
“Big Internet service providers, such as Globe and PLDT, because they dominate the market, have abused us hapless consumers by imposing expensive Internet rates, while refusing to fulfill their obligation to provide adequate public service. Consumers should no longer take this lying down. This has got to stop,” the lawmaker said.
“This is a petition to demand better service from ISPs, who only rake in the profits, but short-changing the people. This is a demand for the enforcement of the State policy that rates should be fair, just and reasonable [under Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines] and that consumers should be protected from trade malpractices [under Section 9, Article XVI, 1987 Constitution] and market abuse and anticompetitive behavior [under Philippine Competition Act],” Colmenares added.
The Philippines has the second slowest average download speed among 22 Asian countries, with 3.6 megabytes per second (mbps), next to Afghanistan with 2.52 mbps.
The Philippines, with 3.6 megabytes per second, lags behind Laos (4.0 Mbps), Indonesia (4.1 mbps), Myanmar (4.9 mbps), Brunei (4.9 mbps), Malaysia (5.5 mbps) and Cambodia (5.7 mbps).