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Republic of the Philippines

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Quezon City twwe:__3:
‘SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS By:

First Regular Session

ae PEOSPATION UNIT
BEES ney

HOUSE BILL No, 1797

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo

EXPLANATORY NOTE
Eighty-five million Filipinos are mobile phone subscribers.

Three or even less than this number of telecommunication companies lord it over the
interconnecting universe in a constant flow of voice calls and text messages.

Profits in the billions of pesos fully reward telecommunication companies to the brim in a
business environment alien to any form of governmental interference.

Major players in the thriving telecommunications industry have truly enjoyed their ‘holidays,’
as if it were that the door to new emerging or even minor players is just ajar.

NTC, supposed to flex regulatory muscle perhaps realized only late in the day that such
interconnection charges that 85 million subscribers pay for are in fact, one of the highest in
the Asia Pacific Region.

‘Two issues come into play for any plan to reduce interconnection charges, namely, issue of
benefits on the part of the consumers and issue of costs on the part ofthe prodilvers or
service providers.

NTC can strike a balance on apparently conflicting interests.
This bill seeks to find that balance, hence this submission

Approval of this urgent measure is highly sought.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 1797 -

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo

AN ACT
PRESCRIBING REDUCED RATES OF INTERCONNECTION CHARGES FOR VOICE
CALLS AND FOR TEXT MESSAGES AMONG  TELECOMMUNICATION
OPERATORS/NETWORKS/CARRIERS WITHIN THE NEXT THREE (3) YEARS IN
ORDER TO BENEFIT OVER EIGHT-FIVE MILLION MOBILE PHONE SUBSCRIBERS
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines
in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the “Fair Interconnection Charges Act of
2016.”

SEC. 2. It is hereby prescribed that the interconnection charges for voice calls be
lowered to P1 per minute from P4 within the next three (3) years while that of text messages
to PO.15 from the current P1.00 per text following however the three-year glide path scheme
beginning January 31, 2017 to give mobile operators time to restructure business plans and
models as well as help cushion revenue losses.

The resulting reduction rates prescribe P2.50 interconnection charges for voice calls
on the first year, P2.00 on the second year, and P1.50 on the third year while for SMS,
charging is P0.25 on the first year, P0.20 on the second year and P0.15 on the third year.

For landline, charging is P2.00 on the first year, P1.50 on the second year and P1.00
on the third year.

SEC. 3. The Commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission shall
issue appropriate rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of this
Act.

SEC. 4. All laws, issuances, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 5. This Act shalll take effect thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official
Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,