THE VALIDITY of prepaid mobile credit, otherwise known as “load,” has been reset to one year, officials said.
The extended validity was ordered in a memorandum circular jointly issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The circular takes effect on Jan. 5.
DICT Officer-in-Charge Eliseo M. Rio, Jr. on Wednesday said that the validity period was agreed with telecommunication companies and represents a balancing of the latter’s interests with those of consumers.
“We came up with a realistic solution… the one-year expiry date is very safe for consumers because that one year assures that they will be able to use the load,” he said.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said that the government initially pushd for no expiry but found this not to be feasible.
However, he noted “the openness of the telcos to cooperate to extend validity. I think one year is a long time.”
The new rules do not apply to user credit purchased in conjunction with certain promotions or other services with a specific period of use.
Mr. Lopez said the next step is new rules for billed mobile users, otherwise known as “post-paid,” focusing on ensuring their mobile phone plans deliver as advertised.
“I hope we can help ensure that (consumers) get what they are promised, in terms of the speed and the megabytes and that needs more technical preparation. That’s the next project,” he added.
According to the DTI data, 130 million customers had mobile lines at the end of 2016. The NTC estimates that the overwhelming majority of the market is pre-paid, with only 3% of users billed. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
