Senator Loren Legarda is now pushing for a bill seeking to bring down the default cost of prepaid calls and text messages to more reasonable levels reflective of modern telecommunications technology, network capacity and consumer usage.

Legarda, in filing Senate Bill No. 2402, or the proposed SULIT Load Act, said it is imperative to strengthen protections against unexpected load deductions, unclear promo pricing, and the loss of prepaid value already paid for by subscribers.

The senator noted that while telecommunications technology has advanced considerably and promos have made calls, texts, and mobile data much cheaper, many default or out-of-promo rates remain disproportionately expensive for ordinary prepaid users.

“Telecommunications technology has changed tremendously. Networks are faster, the volume of calls, texts, and data is much higher, and there is an abundance of affordable promos,” Legarda said.

“It is therefore reasonable to ask: why do standard rates for texts and calls seem stuck in the past? It is time to align pricing with today’s technology and reality,” she pointed out.

Under SB No. 2402, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), together with the DICT, DTI, and Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), would be mandated to review and rationalize regular prepaid rates for SMS, mobile calls, data, and mobile-to-landline calls based on actual costs, competition, prevailing promo rates, consumer usage, and regional pricing.

Pending the completion of that review, the bill proposes interim maximum default rates of ₱0.50 per SMS, ₱2.00 per minute for ordinary domestic mobile calls, and ₱3.00 per minute for mobile-to-landline calls.

The senator said the reform is long overdue because regular load should not function as an expensive fallback whenever a subscriber forgets to register for a promo, exhausts an allocation, loses internet access, or needs to make an urgent call.

“If it is possible to offer very affordable calls, texts, and data through various promos, there should also be reasonable pricing for standard usage. A subscriber shouldn't be penalized simply because their promo has expired or they need to make an urgent call,” she said.

The bill also seeks clearer pricing of prepaid promos as it mandates telecommunications providers to disclose, where applicable, the effective cost per gigabyte of data, call minute, SMS, and landline call minute, together with the promo's total price, validity period, restrictions, and treatment of unused allocations.

Consumers should not have to navigate complicated promo names and inclusions simply to determine which offer provides better value, the lawmaker insisted.

“When we buy rice, gasoline, or other products, there are prices and measurements that can be compared. It should be the same for mobile load. It should be easy to see the actual cost per GB, per minute of calls, or per text,” she said.

“The subscriber has already paid for that load. As long as the account is active, there is no valid reason for the money used to purchase it to simply disappear,” Legarda said.

The proposed law also seeks to address the high cost of calling landlines and essential service numbers, particularly those used by banks, hospitals, schools, utilities, airlines, government offices, and customer service centers.

Legarda noted that prepaid subscribers can lose substantial load simply while waiting on hold before receiving actual assistance.

“Waiting shouldn't come at a high price. When a prepaid subscriber is placed on hold—whether at a hospital, a bank, or a government hotline—their load balance continues to be deducted even though they have yet to receive the actual service. That is precisely one of the issues this proposal seeks to address,” she stressed.

Moreover, under the bill, government offices providing frontline and public-facing services would also be required to establish at least one mobile-accessible contact channel, so citizens are not forced to rely solely on landline numbers that may be costly to call from prepaid mobile phones.

“Mobile phones have become the primary means of communication for so many Filipinos. Public service must keep pace with this. A person should not have to spend a large amount of money just to follow up on documents, benefits, complaints, or government services,” Legarda said.

“This kind of protection is long overdue. The telecommunications industry has advanced rapidly, and consumers should feel the benefits of that progress—in terms of pricing, transparency, and how the prepaid load they paid for is handled,” she stressed.