Lawmaker would have errant telecoms pay bigger fines

A lawmaker has proposed to increase by over a thousand-fold the penalty on telecommunication companies that continue to abuse their mobile phone subscribers—from overcharging them to dropped calls and slow Internet speed.

Tarlac Rep. Susan A. Yap filed House Bill No. 6161 seeking to increase the penalty on Smart Communications, Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular from P200 per day to P300,000 per day if they refuse to follow the order of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and curb violations.

Under the bill, the penalty would be capped at a maximum of P5 million instead of the current maximum penalty of only P25,000.

Yap’s bill would provide the NTC with a legal mechanism to adjust penalties on telecommunication firms.

“These penalties are obsolete and insignificant given the high level of income earned by public communication entities,” said Yap.

In 2014, Smart and Sun had combined revenue of P114.5 billion, with a combined subscriber base of 72.8 million. Globe Telecom posted P78.1 billion in revenue.

Yap said increased penalties would force telecommunication firms to comply with NTC orders.