Globe Telecom Inc. said on Tuesday it has asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to compel Dito Telecommunity Corp. to pay for interconnect penalties amounting to P622 million.
Globe issued the statement a day after Dito sued Globe and Smart Communications Inc. for allegedly violating the Philippine Competition Act (PCA).
“The penalties were brought about by fraudulent calls placed through Dito’s network to Globe, bypassing proper voice traffic channels,” the statement read.
Citing its petition, Globe said an average of 1,000 fraudulent calls—identified as international in origin but masked as local calls—are allowed to pass through Dito’s network to Globe users every day, in violation of interconnect rules.
In comparison, Globe said, “zero or no bypass traffic has been allowed to pass from Globe to Dito due to its advanced monitoring systems and sophisticated network protection from illegal calls.”
Globe claimed Dito “adamantly refused” to compensate Globe for the alleged one-year violation on the agreement on bypass traffic.
The Ayala-led telco noted that to date, reports of fraudulent calls continue to illegally pass through Dito’s network.
Aside from compelling Dito to pay up, Globe also sought the NTC’s assistance to authorize its temporary disconnection of interconnection trunk lines with Dito until the latter has “taken positive and concrete steps to stop all illegal bypass operations emanating from its network” and paid all its outstanding liabilities to Globe for fraudulent calls.
“Clearly, Dito has not only failed to compensate Globe, it also has not taken any serious actions to curtail bypass activities emanating from its network and terminating in Globe’s. Indeed, these bypass activities have not waned but have in fact continuously increased over the said period. Dito’s twin failures to check these bypass activities and pay Globe what it is justly due have worked on a continuing serious prejudice against Globe,” Globe said, citing its NTC pleading.
“Moreover, these unabated illegal activities have placed the interconnection trunks at serious risk of abuse and the resultant undue congestion of the network, to the detriment of the subscribers,” it added.
Dito on Monday sued Globe and Smart for purportedly abusing their dominant positions by allegedly imposing commercial concessions for interconnection, resulting in low connection for calls between Dito and Globe subscribers, as well as between Dito and Smart subscribers.
Globe noted that it “has remained true to its interconnectivity deals with Dito, including domestic voice and SMS in November 2020, landline in March 2021, and the Cellular Mobile Telephone Systems International Gateway Facility (CMTS – IGF) in September 2021.”
When sought for comment, Dito Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano said in filing for claims, Globe admitted that it is seeking commercial concessions for interconnection.
“Firstly, Globe’s position that interconnection will be done only if Dito pays for these alleged penalties is an admission that they are making interconnection, which is mandated by law, subject to the acceptance of this alleged obligation. This falls squarely into Sec 15 (C) of the Philippine Competition Act,” he said.
Tamano noted that the media statement of Globe on the alleged interconnection penalties—also known as international simple resale (ISR) calls—is a “disclosure of confidential business information that is a violation of the PCC’s rules of procedure.”
He also claimed that the ISR calls are not made by Dito.
“Rather, these are fraudulent calls made by third parties—and Dito is equally a victim of such calls. Additionally, there are also ISR calls from Globe to Dito. It is not true that Dito has not taken steps to stop ISR calls to Globe. We have the data and the facts to show the steps undertaken by Dito to minimize these ISR calls,” Tamano said.
He also chided Globe for asking the NTC to compel Dito to pay up, noting that it is not the right body to do so.
“Fourthly, giving due respect to the NTC, it is not a collection agency and if Globe has any monetary claims against Dito, Globe should go to the proper tribunal to enforce their claims.”