NTC Circular on Data Log Retention for Telcos

During the last eCommerce Forum at the Rockwell Center, participants were furnished copies of circulars, memos and drafts of bills. One such memorandum was an NTC Circular on Data Log Retention of Telecommunications Traffic.

This memorandum was part of the implementing rules to support the Consumer Protection Act. In short, this measure will help in the prosecution of consumer complaints.

I’m republishing relevant sections below:

Section 1. PTEs shall retain the call data records on voice call and other similar records on non-voice traffic. Non-voice traffic includes SMS, MMS and other similar telecommunications services.

Section 2. Records indicating traffic data on the origin, destination, date, time and duration of communications shall be retained within the following period:

2.a. Two (2) months for non-metered services with fixed monthly charges.

2.b. Four (4) months for other telecommunication services not covered in 2.a, or

2.c. until excused by NTC for records requested in connection with pending complaints.

Section 3. PTEs shall allow the NTC and the complaining subscriber access to these records upon a formal written request and only in connection with a complaint filed and pending with the NTC. The records shall not be made available to any other person or party without a court order or a written consent from the subscriber concerned. The PTEs shall furnish the NTC with the hard copies of these records within three (3) days from the date of request.

This circular was sent out last April 6, 2008 and becomes effective 15 days after publication in major newspapers.

It is unclear to me whether this circular also includes internet traffic or VoIP traffic but my guess is that it does.

What does this mean to consumers? Well, since all voice, sms and mms records are retained for at least a couple of months, you can actually request for thee records to help you in whatever complaint or case you may have. You can get a detailed audit of your total call time or total of SMS usage and compare that to your monthly plan allocation.

For internet or broadband subscribers, you can ask for these logs to show if you are actually using their services or to show that you get disconnected every 5 minutes (which is most irritating and common to a lot of fixed wireless broadband subscribers). At least, consumers now can have solid proof if they’re getting the service they deserve.

*PTE – public telecommunication entities