Telcos buck new access-code fees

TELECOM companies have opposed the plan of the National Telecommunications Commission to impose fees on telephone access and exchange codes, saying the proposed charges are “exorbitant.”

In a draft circular, the NTC said it will charge P10,000 a year for one 3-digit exchange code and one VoIP prefix code; P8,000 a year for one access code, P5,000 a year for one number code.

Globe Telecom Inc., Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. and the Philippine Association of Private Telephone Companies said the fees are “exorbitant” and will translate into additional taxes to be borne by customers.

“[The] P8million annually for each new mobile access code, coupled with the proposed fees on other number codes are significant expenses that regretfully, must be reconciled with telco retail schemes for the sake of business buoyancy,” Froilan M. Castelo, Globe’s head for regulatory affairs, said.

Castelo said that that the new fees may impede the continuing drive for affordable communication, adding that as a substantial contributor to the government revenues, Globe wants NTC to reconsider or stop altogether the plan to impose administrative fees on number codes.

The Globe executive pointed out that numbers should not be the subject of administrative fees as they are not a scarce public resource.

“We disagree with the proposed principle that numbers are like spectrum, and as such are scarce public resources that need to be effectively administered for which user’s fees will be charged,” Castelo said.

Castelo said the 09XX series alone can hold about 8 million numbers. “There are more numbers to go around than the Philippines’ mobile subscriber market can be expected to grow for several generations - potentially forever when traditional numbering finally evolves into NGN [next generation network] or IP-based locators for that matter,” he said.

The NTC imposes fees on the names and numbers to promote the efficient use of such limited resource.

The regulator said the fees will apply to all public telecommunications entities and value added service providers with assigned names and numbers.

These include the three-digit exchange codes used to identify where a subscriber is connected, prefix code for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), access code, number codes in the 1-900 and 1-800. By Darwin G. Amojelar, Manila Times Reporter

VoIP becoming popular among local businesses, says HP

By Lawrence Casiraya - INQUIRER.net
Local companies are beginning to adopt convergent network applications starting with Internet telephony, according to a local HP executive.

According to Martin Diez, local sales manager for ProCurve, HP’s networking unit, even medium-sized companies are adopting IP telephony or voice-over IP (VoIP) because it is proving to be more cost-effective.

“It is the starting point even for SMBs (small and medium businesses),” Diez said, referring to VoIP, which allows voice calls via Internet instead of over traditional phone lines.

Aside from VoIP, other applications like IPTV, telepresence (or high-resolution) videoconferencing and even IP surveillance cameras can all be integrated and managed within a single network.

“There are also companies, for example, that have migrated from analog cameras to IP-connected surveillance cameras in their warehouses,” Diez noted.

The convergence of these applications that rely on the Internet has led to the term "unified communications."

"Businesses now depend on these applications to generate revenues," Diez said.

What is helping drive the adoption of IP-based applications is open standards, or the ability to interconnect different applications regardless of whether an end-user is using from ProCurve or rival vendors like Cisco.

HP launched its line of ProCurve 2610 switches, touting open standards and features like power-over Ethernet and capable of connecting 802.3af -- compliant IP phones or those that consume 15 watts and below.

Local ProCurve end-users include Allied Bank, Robinson's Malls and television network GMA-7.

Telcos: No cut in VoIP charges

No relief for families of overseas Filipinos

Telcos: No cut in VoIP charges

By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter

FILIPINOS hoping to spend more time during the Christmas holidays talking to loved ones abroad over the Internet may have to settle for their landlines or mobile phones, as large telecommunications companies bucked a proposal to bring down the access fee they charge voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service providers, an official of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said.

Edgardo Cabarios, chief of the NTC’s Common Carriers and Authorization Division, told reporters that Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Smart Communications Inc., Bayan Telecommunication Inc., and Globe Telecom Inc. have raised their opposition to a proposed cut during the preliminary hearing on additional rules for VoIP.

Cabarios said telcos insisted that access charges should be “negotiated.” He added that the NTC ordered the telcos to submit their position papers next week.

The NTC official said lowering access charges will expand the growth of the VoIP market in the country, adding that current rates remain very high.

A cheap alternative to traditional telephony, VoIP involves transmitting voice calls through the Internet thus making them less expensive.

The regulator’s additional guidelines for VoIP came on the heels of complaints from VoIP service providers and from Congress that the access charge imposed by telcos remains exorbitant.

At present, landline calls are charged an access fee of $0.12, while mobile-phone calls incur $0.16 charge.

Under the proposed rules, the VoIP service provider shall be interconnected to at least one public switched telephone network, which shall be responsible for the routing of VoIP calls to other networks.

The switched network operator will be compensated a transit charge of not more than P0.25 a minute, whereas the access charge on VoIP calls should not be more than P1 a minute.

For mobile telephone interconnection, VoIP service providers should be interconnected to at least one network, which should be compensated a transit charge of not more than P0.50 a minute.

“The access charge paid to [the cell-phone network] where VoIP calls originate or terminate shall not be more than P1.50 a minute,” the NTC rules said.

It added that no interconnection agreement is required if VoIP calls originate from or terminate to broadband access networks.

“The access charge paid to [switched network operators] is different from the access charge paid to [cellular network operator] because of mobility. There is premium in mobility,” the NTC said.

Two years ago, the NTC opened up VoIP as a value-added service, which means that non-telcos may offer it to the public.

Under the VoIP circular, service providers have to register with the NTC and forge an agreement with the local telco. With the service classified as value-added, telcos were required to open their networks to VoIP service providers.

The telcos had objected to the classification of VoIP as value-added since international voice calls have been a major source of their revenues.