Villar questions legality of forfeiting cell-card values
By Patricia Esteves, Times Reporter
SEN. Manuel Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, on Sunday questioned the legality of the “unused value forfeiture policy” being put into practice by telecommunication companies to billions of prepaid cellular-phone subscribers in the country.
Villar filed Senate Resolution 200 directing the Senate Committee on Public Services to conduct an inquiry into the policy imposed by telecom firms for possible violation of Republic Act 7295, which provides that rates of telecom firms “must be fair, reflective of a fair return on their investments, reasonable and are not distorted such that the public is adversely affected.”
“It came to my attention that the value of prepaid cards that phone subscribers buy, if not consumed or used within a certain period of time, is being forfeited in favor of telecom companies. The forfeited values are then included in their operating revenue. I would like to know whether such policy or practice violates certain laws,” Villar said.
He stressed his point: “I also find the consumption or time limit on prepaid cards too short or restrictive especially for low-income senators. Those who buy prepaid cards are people with tight budgets, forfeiting the stored value of the phone cards they bought too soon or forfeiting them at all is like taking away their hard-earned money, even if it is just a few centavos or pesos.”
Villar said Globe Telecom has put a 15-day limit for a P100 prepaid card, and for a 60-day limit for P250, P300, P500 and P1,000 prepaid cards. Smart Communications, on the other hand, has placed a 60-day limit for P300, P500 and P1,000 cards and a three-day limit for P30 auto load, six days for P60 auto load, and 12 days for P115 load.
“Considering the number of prepaid-card subscribers have reached millions, we can already assume that the unused values that get forfeited also reach millions or even billions of pesos. In this case, the telecom companies’ gain becomes the phone subscribers’ loss.”
Smart Communications reported operating revenues of P4.99 billion in 2003, from which P4.09 billion, or 82 percent, came from its more than 10.7 million prepaid subscribers. Globe, on the other hand, reported P8.08-billion revenues from the nine months of 2003 from its more than 7.4 million prepaid subscribers
SEN. Manuel Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, on Sunday questioned the legality of the “unused value forfeiture policy” being put into practice by telecommunication companies to billions of prepaid cellular-phone subscribers in the country.
Villar filed Senate Resolution 200 directing the Senate Committee on Public Services to conduct an inquiry into the policy imposed by telecom firms for possible violation of Republic Act 7295, which provides that rates of telecom firms “must be fair, reflective of a fair return on their investments, reasonable and are not distorted such that the public is adversely affected.”
“It came to my attention that the value of prepaid cards that phone subscribers buy, if not consumed or used within a certain period of time, is being forfeited in favor of telecom companies. The forfeited values are then included in their operating revenue. I would like to know whether such policy or practice violates certain laws,” Villar said.
He stressed his point: “I also find the consumption or time limit on prepaid cards too short or restrictive especially for low-income senators. Those who buy prepaid cards are people with tight budgets, forfeiting the stored value of the phone cards they bought too soon or forfeiting them at all is like taking away their hard-earned money, even if it is just a few centavos or pesos.”
Villar said Globe Telecom has put a 15-day limit for a P100 prepaid card, and for a 60-day limit for P250, P300, P500 and P1,000 prepaid cards. Smart Communications, on the other hand, has placed a 60-day limit for P300, P500 and P1,000 cards and a three-day limit for P30 auto load, six days for P60 auto load, and 12 days for P115 load.
“Considering the number of prepaid-card subscribers have reached millions, we can already assume that the unused values that get forfeited also reach millions or even billions of pesos. In this case, the telecom companies’ gain becomes the phone subscribers’ loss.”
Smart Communications reported operating revenues of P4.99 billion in 2003, from which P4.09 billion, or 82 percent, came from its more than 10.7 million prepaid subscribers. Globe, on the other hand, reported P8.08-billion revenues from the nine months of 2003 from its more than 7.4 million prepaid subscribers
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