An infrastructure-oriented think tank has called on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to intervene in the delays in implementing Republic Act No. 11202 or the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act.
Infrawatch PH, a public policy think tank focusing on major public infrastructure and development projects in the country, has recently submitted to the NTC a letter-request for a motu proprio inquiry on the implementation of the MNP Act.
RA 11202 provides that mobile phone users can keep their numbers even when they transfer to another service provider, or when they switch their subscription from postpaid to prepaid, or vice-versa.
It also empowers the user to take his number with him and change his telecommunications company if needed.
In a letter before the NTC, Infrawatch asked the telecoms regulator to settle the delays in enforcing RA 11202 including its regulations.
“While we welcome the clarification of telcos that there is no bad faith in the delays and problems in implementing the MNP, it remains our position that the NTC should keep telcos honest by ensuring that they cannot impose process roadblocks to frustrate the objectives of the MNP,” said Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House Information and Communications Technology member.
Ridon said that the public had been expecting a seamless implementation of the MNP when it was officially launched last September 30.
“It is our position that system glitches and bugs should have been identified and resolved prior to commercial launch, because a sufficient length of time has been granted to various telcos to prepare for the MNP’s commercial launch,” added Ridon, who also served as chairman and chief executive officer of the PH Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.
He also said that telcos should not give its subscribers a hard time porting out of their current networks.
“With the coronavirus continuing to be an everyday risk for all, porting out of their networks should not be more than a one-day affair. Telcos have failed if their customers need to return to their stores simply because their NMP protocols are not yet in place.” Ridon added that telcos seem to be imposing internal process roadblocks to deter their existing subscribers from migrating to other telcos.
“Telcos are doing this by limiting booking appointments relating to NMP, defining bundled services broadly to cover a wider swath of excepted mobile numbers, and limiting functionality required for third-party services such as virtual wallets and online banking,” he said.
He also said that process roadblocks being imposed by telcos subvert the efficiency timelines under the MNP law and its implementing rules.
“We have received reports that several customers who ported out of Globe had been unable to use the full functionality of their virtual wallets such as topping-up their mobile load and receiving One-Time PIN notifications,” Ridon added.
The former Lower House lawmaker said that telcos have also imposed their own timelines on specific processes in violation of existing MNP regulations, including phone unlocking processes beyond the two business day requirement by no less than the NTC.
Ridon added that the NTC should urgently intervene into these public concerns before the number of complaining customers escalate further.
“The NTC should nip these delays in the bud, which is why it should decisively act even no more than one week into the NMP’s full implementation. Because at the end of the day, the buck stops with the NTC if the NMP’s birth pangs remain unresolved for a longer period of time,” he said.
The NTC is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) which is responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecom services and broadcast networks throughout the country. (Melvin Sarangay)