premise: The Philippines and the United States are near a decision on changing the accounting rate for long-distance telephone calls between the two countries, it was announced here Wednesday.
  Art Samson, senior vice-president of Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. (PLDT), said PLDT and the US firm, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT et T), may reach a decision this month on lowering the accounting rate over five years.
  Samson said the negotiations would likely result in an agreement to lower the US-Philippine telephone rates from the present one dollar a minute to about 38 cents.
  Samson said they may agree to a 10 to 15 percent reduction every year until the 38-cent rate is reached.
  The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) set the parameters for the PLDT-AT et T talks which will be a benchmark for all other US and Philippine carriers.
   What does "a 10 to 15 percent reduction" refer to?
hypothesis: the PLDT-AT et T talks