House Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero
MANILA -- A lawmaker at the House of Representatives is pushing for a measure providing for a more comprehensive public telecommunications policy program that would boost the role of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in regulating the industry.
According to a statement on Wednesday, House Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero filed House Bill 4886, which seeks to update the 24-year-old Public Telecommunications Policy law, by giving the NTC the power to impose penalties and sanctions against erring telecommunications companies.
“My bill amends RA (Republic Act) 7925 with a whole set of law enforcement teeth because the 1995 law does not have penalty provisions and no means to hold erring entities and people liable for wrongdoing and not doing when they should have acted decisively,” Romero said.
Under the bill, the NTC shall impose a penalty of at least PHP1 million for every day of violation against erring telcos.
The bill aims to improve compliance among public telecommunication entities and to expand the NTC's control and capability to expand business-related bodies.
"The current framework is also inadequate mainly because it is based on a 20th Century orientation being applied to 21st Century situations. Urgent needs are also unaddressed such as much better competition, consumer protection, and industry regulation," Romero said.
"We have only three major telecom players and dozens of bit players. We have a number of unused spectrum frequencies. The spectrum policy has been described by some experts as 'a mess'. The country has thousands of telecom dead spots nationwide," he added.
Based on the proposed public telecommunications policy program, the government shall allocate the spectrum to service providers who will use it efficiently and effectively to meet public demand.
To ensure fair and reasonable rates and charges, the NTC shall also be required to develop tariff structure based on socioeconomic factors, and on financial, technical, and commercial criteria.
A healthy competitive environment shall be fostered, wherein telecommunication carriers are free to make business decisions and to interact with one another in providing telecommunications services to encourage their financial viability while maintaining affordable rates.
"The Philippines cannot truly be a middle-income economy without a modern and adapting telecoms sector serving the growing needs of over 109 million Filipinos," Romero said. (PNA)
