Manila, Philippines— Senator Panfilo (Ping) Lacson calls for the abolishment of the occurring charges or the so-called “interconnectivity fees” imposed by PTEs (public telecommunications entity) on all of the mobile phone subscribers for domestic calls and SMS (text) messages made across two different networks.

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In his statement, Lacson cited some figures from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) showing that in 2016, telco firms have earned some P806.9 million from interconnection fees on domestic calls and SMS alone. He also said that he aims to “protect the mobile phone consumers from being charged with P2.50 for mobile calls and 15 centavos for SMS when calling or messaging through a different PTE without even being aware of it.”

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These interconnectivity fees, which Lacson deems to be “burdensome” is his reason for presenting an amendment to Senate Bill 1636, also known as the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act, which was accepted by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the said bill’s sponsor. According to Gatchalian, interconnectivity fees are the reason why mobile subscribers are mostly stuck on a single network.

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It was August 2014 when concerns for interconnection fees were also raised by Kabataan party-list Representative Terry L. Ridon who filed the House Bill 4380 that aims to eradicate the said fees for mobile phone services saying that “the telecommunication companies have already regained their expenses for infrastructure and equipment that enable interconnectivity.”