MANILA — Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto has filed a bill prohibiting telecommunication companies from imposing an expiration period on the validity of prepaid call and texts cards and the forfeiture of unused load credits.
Recto filed Senate Bill 2231, or to be known as “Prepaid Load Protection Act of 2014”, amid rampant complaints that prepaid subscribers do not get the full value of the loads credits that they paid due to expiration period set by the telecommunication companies.
At present, the telcos impose expiration period of prepaid call and text cards in two years while load credit’s expiry ranges from 15 to 120 days depending on the denomination.
”This means that unused prepaid cards will no longer work after two years and that unutilized load credits will be forfeited after their corresponding expiration period; hence, a waste of prepaid subscriber’s money and additional income for the telecommunication company,” Recto explained.
Under his proposed bill, Recto wanted to make the imposition of expiration period on the validity of load credits “prohibited acts with corresponding penalties.”
”This will ensure that every peso spent to purchase load credits are saved and usable until the day the credits are fully consumed,” Recto said.
The measure provides a PHP100,000 to PHP1 million fine and imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than six years for “any director, officer, employee or agent” of a telecommunication company.
If the violation will be committed by the “duly licensed” telecommunication company, a PHP500,000 fine will be imposed for first offense; 30-day suspension of license for second; and, license revocation for third infraction.
Based on the 2013 data of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), around 80 million of the approximately 100 million mobile phone subscribers in the Philippines are prepaid subscribers.
The major telecommunications operating in the Philippines are Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom.