Ex-NTC chief wants NTC abolished following ruling

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva INQ7.net


FORMER National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chief Joseph Santiago sought the abolition of the NTC on Monday.

This was in reaction to a recent provisional order issued by the regulatory body last week.

NTC had issued a new regulatory policy effectively scrapping network quality standards previously imposed on mobile phone operators.

Under these new NTC guidelines, operators may set their own minimum service performance standards for new price plans, as long as these standards are disclosed to the NTC and the subscribing public.

Under previous NTC policy guidelines, operators were required to maintain a Grade of Service (GOS) of at least seven percent and a dropped call rate (DCR) of no more than five percent.

The policy means that for a network to be considered efficient, at least 93 out of every 100 calls should succeed on the first attempt. In addition, no more than five out of 100 calls should be prematurely and involuntarily terminated.

Santiago, now a member of the House of Representatives, said that the NTC "has voluntarily rendered itself toothless" with this new policy direction.

"In its latest ruling, the commission virtually surrendered its power to set and require compliance with minimum network performance standards to the very operators that are supposed to be regulated by the agency," Santiago added in a statement.

"The NTC has just committed hara-kiri. What is the point of Congress giving the agency public funds for spending? We might as well abolish the commission," he added.

Santiago also said that NTC's new policy guideline is just pathetic. "The NTC's idea of upholding network efficiency standards is to allow CMTS operators to set their own rules. What the commissioners do not dare admit is that the NTC does not even have the ability to determine if the operators are in fact complying with their self-imposed standards," he continued.

The NTC, Santiago pointed out, in fact, has neither been conducting network efficiency tests regularly nor sanctioning violators of previously set performance standards.

"This is totally wrongful. The NTC seems to be rewarding operators that have not been complying with mandatory performance standards. The commission also appears to be punishing operators that have invested large sums to build up their networks in order to comply with the minimum standards," Santiago added.

NTC officials declined to comment when asked by INQ7.net to react to Santiago's statement.

"During our watch, we worked hard to strengthen the NTC and make it a more effective instrument for the public interest. Sadly, the existing NTC leadership appears bent on emasculating the commission and on undermining its legal and moral authority," Santiago said.

NTC issued the new order pending resolution of the administrative cases earlier filed by Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) and Innove Communications Inc. against Digital Mobile Philippines Inc., operator of Sun Cellular, for alleged violations of NTC Memo Circular 07-06-2002.

Piltel, a sister firm of Smart Communications Inc., and Innove, an affiliate of Globe Telecom Inc., had alleged that Sun Cellular was operating well below the network efficiency standards set by the NTC circular.