MANILA – Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV on Monday called on telecommunications companies (telcos) to immedialtely institute clear-cut policies to solve the problem of unwarranted deductions on prepaid mobile loads as subscribers have complained of disappearing load or “nakaw load.”
In an interview, the lawmaker said that there were already several proposals forwarded during the public hearing conducted by his panel, the Committee on Science and Technology, on the issue and said that he expects the telcos to comply.
Present during the hearing included representatives from consumer groups, IT advocacy groups, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and telecommunication companies Smart and Globe.
Among the solutions proposed was for telcos to issue notifications to their subscribers whenever a load is added or deducted from their prepaid accounts.
According to the NTC, around 97 percent, or around 126 million, of the country’s 130 million mobile phone owners are prepaid subscribers.
“There was a very clear solution presented, at iyon ay yung bawat load na ibabawas po sa atin, kailangan po mayroon tayong notification, at kung nakita natin na hindi tama ito, mayroon tayong oras para i-complain ito at ibalik yung pera po sa atin,” Aqiuno said.
“It is a very simple solution. We are hoping that the two telcos can agree to it already. Sa ngayon po, mayroon talaga tayong batayan kung saan po napupunta yung load natin,” he added.
He said that another important step is to go after value-added service (VAS) providers who are the cause of the disappearing loads.
“I think yung naging problema kasi, may mga value added services na hindi naman talaga tayo nag- opt in pero kinakaltasan tayo. May mga panahon na nagugulat na lang tayo, doble o triple yung charge sa atin,” he noted.
“Mahalaga po siguro na kasuhan natin yung mga VAS providers na nanloloko sa ating mga kababayan,” Aquino said.
During the hearing, it was found out that there were instances when clicking “X” on a pop-up resulted in an opt-in to an unwanted VAS.
“Saan po naging naging tama iyon? Saang mundo po naging tama iyon? Obviously, mayroon pong panloloko na nangyayari dito,” he said.
Aquino said that the telcos are already looking at instituting a two-step process to prevent consumers from being enrolled in a VAS without their consent.
He also welcomed a telco’s move for a system refresh that will opt-out all of their subscribers to all VAS subscriptions and, thereafter, implement a stricter procedure when availing of these extra services.
Globe Telecom’s system refresh, which will automatically opt out subscribers from VAS, will start March 5 up to March 10.
Representatives from Smart Communications promised that the company will consider this move.
In the meantime, Aquino said he hopes that telecommunications companies would immediately comply with the proposed solutions even without any legislation.
“As we know, laws take time. Ang hinahanap po ng mga kababayan po natin, ngayon na yung solution. So maybe in a sign of good faith, they can institute new procedures, bagong mga patakaran po para mawala na po itong problema natin habang binubuo po iyong batas,” Aquino said. (Jose Cielito Reganit/PNA)
