MANILA – A bill that will enable mobile service subscribers to have a single mobile number for life is a signature away from becoming a law.
The bicameral conference committee has approved the reconciled Senate and House of Representatives versions of the “Lifetime Cellphone Number Act.” The measure is now up for signing by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Consumers will soon have the freedom to choose the provider that will give the best value for their money without having to lose or change their mobile numbers, said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, author of the Senate version.
Mobile subscribers need not pay a fee when they decide to retain their existing mobile number after moving from one provider to another or changing the type of subscription, the reconciled bill stated.
Congress agreed that the process of porting a number from one service provider to another should take no more than 48 hours, while the process of changing the type of subscription should not take more than 24 hours.
In addition the bill removed the interconnection fees charged to subscribers for calling or texting across different networks. Currently mobile phone users were charged an additional P0.50 per minute for calls and P0.05 for text messages to different networks.
Mobile service providers may be penalized with a fine of up to P1 million and the revocation of the PTE’s (public telecommunications entity) operating franchises if they unjustly refuse to provide mobile number portability services to a subscriber even after mediation.
Mobile service providers will be compelled to provide subscribers with the best overall value in terms of services, allowing for technological innovation among them, said Gatchalian.
“Ang importanteng feature nitong batas ay hindi na kailangan ng consumers na magpalit pa ng cellphone numbers, lalo na kung gusto nilang lumipat sa third telco,” he said.
“Ngayon kasi kung marami kang cellphone numbers, isang malaking problema ay iyong paglipat. Kakailanganin mo i-text ang lahat ng kakilala mo na papalitan mo na ang cellphone number mo,” he added.
Moreover Gatchalian believed the measure will foster healthy competition among mobile service providers and in turn generate better services./PN
