‘Digital robbery’ Telcos face raps over 'vanishing loads'
Thursday, July 2, 2009
A CONSUMER watchdog group will file a class action Thursday against major telecommunication companies (telcos) for allegedly "victimizing" the public through "vanishing" cell phone loads and other "scams."
Consumer group Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines, Inc. (COUP) accused the country’s three top telcos of "digital robbery" and swindling, asking the NTC to stop what it claimed were illegal activities.
The Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines (COUP) represented by human rights lawyer Rod Domingo will file the case against Smart Communications Incorporated, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The group said "digital robbery" nets billions of pesos yearly from more than 60 million subscribers nationwide.
COUP also complained of poor signal "despite [telcos’] advertisements claiming wide network coverage and advanced telecommunication facilities."
“Even just a single centavo illegally collected or charged from each of the unsuspecting subscribers for every call or text message being sent easily translates to millions of pesos illegally collected everyday from the victims of the telcos that have combined revenue of over a billion of pesos daily,” according to the group’s petition.
COUP added that its members were victims of call interruptions or dropped calls but were made to pay for the full charge for each call instead of being billed for each second used.
Domingo said among the issues that will be raised by the complainants are the disappearing loads, false advertisements, dropped calls, spam, unsolicited messages illegally charged against consumers and users, illegal charges of deduction of loads for failed messages, and full charge or load deduction for missed calls and interrupted calls.
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