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How will telcos refund the Php7B they owe subscribers?

Fresh from the announcement of NTC that regular SMS rates should have been Php0.80 instead of Php1.00 since 2011, it has estimated that telcos owe prepaid/postpaid subscribers as much as Php7B worth of refunds.

So the next question is, how will subscribers get back that Php7 billion that they overpaid?

According to NTC, there are several ways:

Refunds could be in a form prepaid credits or through billing for postpaid subscribers according to Edgardo Cabarios, director for Common Carriers Authorization at NTC. Keep in mind that the charges only covers the inter-network and regular text messages not covered by promos like unlimited or combo-package offers.

Here are some likely methods we think they could do:

* Telcos can auto-credit each subscriber SIM with additional SMS load based on their average consumption in the last 3 months. The 25% (Php0.20/Php0.80) top-up will continue to be added every month for the next 4 years. Example — if you average 1000 SMS per month in the last 3 months, you get a free SMS top-up of 250 text messages next month.

* Reduce rates of all regular SMS from the supposed Php0.80 to Php0.60 until 2018. After that, they can return to the prescribed Php0.80 rate.

* Free regular SMS for the next 12 months. Though this is highly unlikely, telcos can waive all fees related to sending regular SMS in the next 12 months (representing 25% of the last 4 years).

Or, if it’s going to be really hard to compute the equitable sharing of refunds, why not just donate the entire amount of Php7 billion to charity or an academic institution or organization?

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

20 Responses

  1. Avatar for metre9dmt metre9dmt says:

    no refunds will happen — inutil naman ang NTC and telcos will never admit their mistakes as they did with internet access and prices… :-(

  2. Avatar for Hen-Sheen Hen-Sheen says:

    They won’t. It’s the “Royalty Fees” that make them rich. Whether the service is Lousy or Awesome, for every customer that subscribes to any service (regardless or industry), they get a slice of the fortune. NTC at this time has Infinite money to spare…..

  3. Avatar for Nephilim Nephilim says:

    Appeal ng appeal sa decision gagawin ng mga yan, puputi na buhok ko sa kilikili di ko parin makikita yang refund…

  4. Avatar for kisuke kisuke says:

    philippine telco are too greedy for refund. smart specially.. too much greed.

  5. Avatar for xris xris says:

    mag hantay ka nalang ng puting uwak na dadapo sa harapan mo bago yan magbigay ng refund.

  6. Avatar for Bighorn57 Bighorn57 says:

    Refund?? Bakit hindi kasuhan yang mga ganid na telcos na yan!!

    Bakit hindi nila nasusunod ang itinatakda ng NTC??
    At NTC ano ang ginagawa ninyo at hindi kayo sinusunod
    Nitong mga telcos na ‘to??

  7. Avatar for yanyan yanyan says:

    Refund? Malayo at a mangyari yun.. Kung ibibigay sa Charity/ Organization bka nman bogus na Charity yun para palabasin na nrefund na..

  8. Avatar for merx merx says:

    no refund will be issued.
    napasahod na nila un sa execs nila…

  9. Avatar for 6/55 6/55 says:

    refund?haha! mas may chance ka pa ata manalo sa lotto o matamaan ng kidlat kaysa makatanggap ng refund sa mga greedy telcos na yan.

  10. Avatar for Krypton Krypton says:

    2011 pa lang kung hindi na sinunod ng Telcos un regular SMS rate dapat may action na agad silang ginawa. After 3 years dun pa lang nila nakita na hindi sila sumusunod? Seriously? As if ibabalik nila yun eh ang dami ng subscribers ang nawala, maraming sim card na ang napalitan. Bulok talga kahit kelan.

  11. Avatar for simon simon says:

    parang hindi rin makakatulong sa mga prepaid users na either expired or snatched na ung cellnumbers ung mga “ideas” ng reimbursement na nabanggit. better give it na lang sa charity, kung magbibigay nga ung mga telcos.

  12. Avatar for Diorarat Diorarat says:

    Hindi naman cash irerefund nila. It shouldn’t be hard. Wala naman direct cost in their part pagnaghandle ng sms. Opportunity cost lang naman mawawala kung nagrefund sila via free text or credit.

  13. Avatar for drew drew says:

    Why did NTC waited for that long period of time? Why after 3 years? I think NTC does’nt have that enough power to control telcos..

  14. Avatar for miongb miongb says:

    They wont refund. They will appeal the ntc decision and ultimately elevate this to the sc. Then it will take years. Then the people forget.

  15. Avatar for JM JM says:

    Refund, and Philippine Telecom Providers?
    I don’t think both of them mix!

  16. Avatar for THEO THEO says:

    My guess is that they won’t refund.. TELCOS are just too greedy.

    • Avatar for TacticalNinja TacticalNinja says:

      I agree. If they refuse to refund, they should at least use the money to improve customer service (e.g. Better cell towers, broader network/signal coverage, etc…)

    • Avatar for archie archie says:

      They’re going to use 1 billion out of that 7 billion for marketing expenses to think of alibis to justify why they won’t refund that remaining 6 billion.

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