#senate telco

The Senate recently passed a bill that requires telecommunications companies in the Philippines to send out free text alerts to their subscribers in the event of impending calamities or disasters. Twenty senators on Monday approved the House Bill (H.B.) 353, or the "Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act," which will require local telcos to send out free SMS alerts, early warnings, and other useful information like evacuation areas and relief sites during disaster situations. Telcos which fail or refuse to send free alerts will be fined of up to Php10 million. "We can greatly use the instantaneous, flexible and reliable short message service (SMS) technology as a potent tool during disaster situations – one that is intimately understood and easily accessed by millions of Filipinos who have cellphones," said Senate President Franklin Drilon. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has declared support to Senate Bill No. 2092, which will require telcos and internet service providers (ISPs) to give refunds for service outages and interruptions. Cited under the bill, public telco entities and internet service providers must provide a refund credit to a customer or adjust a customer’s bill who has experienced a service outage or disruption for an aggregate period of 24 hours or more within a month on a pro-rated basis. Read more in our articles including "Senate passes bill on free text alerts during calamities" and "DICT backs senate bill mandating telcos, ISPs to give refunds for downtimes".