Cong. Velasco wants telcos to provide daily billing reports to subscribers

                                                                    Cong. Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco

REPOST FROM BUSINESS MIRROR, AUG. 27, 2012

 FERNAN MARASIGAN /REPORTER

SAYING that monthly billing report leaves room for the big telecommunications companies to possibly carry out insidious machinations to beef up their profits or indirectly transfer to the consumers the dues that they themselves should pay, a legislator wants cellular-telephone service providers to provide individual end-users, postpaid and prepaid, a daily customer billing report.

In House Bill 6335, Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco of Marinduque wants to mandate all telecommunications companies to provide individual end-users—post-paid and prepaid—a customer billing report on a daily basis which shall include the number of calls made, number of text messages made, average and maximum call length, summary of cost of each call or message made and total cost payable for the day.

The report shall be delivered through short-messaging service (SMS) form to the individual end-users by their respective service providers.

“In doing so, this will protect the welfare of end-users and shield them from deceptive, unfair and unconscionable acts and practices,” said Velasco.

In filing the bill, Velasco cited the declared policy of the State which recognizes the ubiquity of cellular communications use, as well as its impact on the social, economic and even political aspects of the nation.

“The State also recognizes the need to protect the welfare of each end-user as consumers, shield them from deceptive, unfair and unconscionable acts and practices, provide information and education to facilitate sound choices and the proper exercise of rights by the consumers,” Velasco said.

At the level of the consumers, Velasco said the need for their protection is recognized particularly with respect to the transparency of the costs that they have incurred for the services rendered by the cellular service providers.

“It is common practice among such providers that a monthly statement is sent to the end-user. However, such statement is limited only to post-paid subscribers and provide only for a general summary of the services rendered by the companies,” Velasco said.

He said the use of mobile telecommunications have become one of the major tools of the common person to connect and communicate.

He added that this reality not only ingrained in present society the significance of these communication tools, but also created a multi-million dollar industry.

“Notwithstanding the advantages, there is an apparent disparity of power between the cellular service providers, represented by huge corporation, and the end-users as lowly consumers,” Velasco said.