Only restraining order can stop SMS refund order — NTC

Only a restraining order from the courts can stop the National Telecommunications Commission’s order to telecommunications companies to reimburse mobile phone subscribers a 20-centavo difference for each text message dating back to Dec. 1, 2011. NTC Director Edgardo Cabarios stressed this Wednesday as he said that while the telcos are free to avail of legal remedies, the reimbursement order will still stand. “May legal remedy sila, puwede sila mag-file ng motion for reconsideration or dumiretso sa Court of Appeals," he said in an interview on dzBB radio. When asked if the NTC will stop enforcing the order only when a court issues a temporary restraining order, Cabarios said, “Ihihinto 'yan 'pag may restraining order. On Tuesday, the NTC ordered telecom firms to reimburse their subscribers 20 centavos for every P1 text message sent since Dec. 1, 2011. Cabarios said the telcos had ignored an order from the NTC as early as October 2011 to lower charges for SMS messages from P1 to 80 centavos. He said this stemmed from an NTC circular lowering interconnection charges for text messages from 35 to 15 centavos per SMS message. Promos  Cabarios refuted the claims of telcos that they are already giving their subscribers savings with call and text promos. “Dapat lahat na users ng mobile phone ay mabiyayaan ng pagbaba... Kailangan maramdaman ng lahat ng users ng mobile phones ang pagbaba," he said. Meanwhile, Cabarios said not all owners of prepaid SIM cards may be able to benefit from the reimbursement. He said this is if the owners throw away their prepaid SIM cards, or fail to use them in six months. Cabarios said telcos usually “recycle” SIM card numbers if a SIM card has not been used for six months or so. As such, he said that once the reimbursement comes to a prepaid SIM card, it will be the new owner or subscriber of that particular number who may benefit. — LBG, GMA News