MANILA – Additional fees when calling outside one’s telco will also be removed under a measure that seeks to give consumers the option to have a permanent mobile number, one of its authors said Thursday.
So-called interconnection fees make up a “very small” portion of telcos’ total revenues and such charges are “negligible” when used with promo buckets, said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
The bill is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature before it is enacted into law. Gatchalian headed the Senate contingent that saw the bill’s passage in a bicameral conference.
Under the bill, mobile phone users shall register their lifetime number with the telecommunication company of their choice.
The measure will also curb criminal activities that are coursed through messages and calls exchanges, and even improvised explosive devices triggered by cellphones, said Gatchalian. (ABS-CBN News)
