cut cost of phone calls

[markyap]

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New metering plan to cut cost of phone calls

Miko L. Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 24, 2009

MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has directed cellular phone companies to lower the pulse metering rate from 60 seconds to 6 seconds.

The pulse metering rate is the length of time calls are metered or charged by.

Currently, telecommunications companies charge users around P8 per pulse, which consists of 60 seconds. This is known as per-minute charging.

In a memorandum signed Thursday, the commission ordered the rate adjusted to 10 percent of what it currently charges.

Commissioner Ruel Canobas said this is expected to cut call charges to the benefit of mobile phone users.

“This will be a big help to them because it will further bring down call rates,” Canobas told the Inquirer in an interview.

Telcos have been given four months to implement the new rates because the companies have to make some changes to their systems, Canobas said.

“[The stakeholders] agreed four months is sufficient for the transition,” the commissioner said.

The public can expect the memorandum to take full effect by year’s end, he added.

Canobas said he could not yet say by how much call charges would go down.

The order, he said, mandates telcos to submit within 30 days their proposed rates based on a 6-second per pulse charge.

The order also gives the firms another 30 days to amend their interconnection agreements “to incorporate the prescribed unit of billing.”

The new rate, however, does not phase out the per-minute charging scheme. Subscribers can still choose to be charged by the minute or opt for unlimited service offerings, the memorandum said.

International calls are not covered by the regulation, it said.

[markyap]

New cell phone rates take effect Sunday

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:23:00 12/05/2009
Filed Under: Economy and Business and Finance, Telecommunications Services


MANILA, Philippines—Starting on Sunday, the public will only pay for the time they actually use making mobile phone calls.

The National Telecommunications Commission announced on Saturday a new “per pulse” rate for voice calls on cellular phones which will make billing more reflective of the real costs of a call.

The new scheme does not change the per-minute cost of cell phone calls but it will reflect calls lasting less than a minute.

Under the new rates, telecom firms will be allowed to charge a "flagdown" rate of P3 for the first two pulses, or a total of 12 seconds. Every succeeding pulse will then be billed. Each minute has 10 six-second pulses.

To illustrate, assuming the prevailing rate is P7.50 per minute, every pulse after the flagdown rate will cost 56 centavos. After the first minute, the per-pulse charge will increase to 75 centavos.

The resulting cost of a call per minute will still be P7.50 but calls under one minute will cost less. A 30-second call will cost P4.69.

The new billing scheme takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday for calls made within one network.

Calls made from one network to another will be covered by the per-pulse billing on Dec. 16, the NTC said, to give telecom firms more time to adjust.

“The NTC issued a landmark regulation directing all cellular mobile operators to implement a six-second pulse billing mode on mobile calls to take effect on Dec. 6,” Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said in a briefing in Quezon City.

The new directive is a result of a memorandum circular issued by the NTC in July after Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile criticized their billing system.

In the same briefing Saturday, Enrile explained that the costs for calls were not brought down so as not to put too much pressure on telecom firms’ finances.

“We have to think of the interest of the telcos here, as well as the interest of the consumers,” he said. “I think consumers will be really happy with this new regime,” he added.

Cordoba said the implementation of the new rates would be observed for two to three months to see if companies are able to cope or if problems arise.

Representatives of Smart Communications, Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular could not be reached for comment as of late Saturday afternoon.

The three companies earlier asked the NTC to push back the implementation of the new rates to January of next year, saying the changes in the billing system may add to the expected problems brought by increased network traffic during the holiday season.

[markyap]

In compliance with NTC Memorandum Circular No. 05-07-2009 entitled Guidelines on Unit of Billing of Mobile Voice Service mandating per pulse charging beginning December 6, 2009, per second charging for Globe-Globe/TM and TM-TM/Globe is available via the dialing sequence 2329xxxxxxxxx for Globe (replace the 0 at the beginning of the Globe/TM number you are calling with 232) and 8039xxxxxxxxx for TM (replace the 0 at the beginning of the Globe/TM number you are calling with 803).

Per second rates when using the aforementioned dialing sequence as follows:

* - P0.10/second for Globe-Globe/TM and TM-TM/Globe calls Monday to Saturday
* - P0.05/second for Globe-Globe/TM and TM-TM/Globe calls Sunday

Minimum maintaining balance of P7.50 required for Globe, P6.50 required for TM.

Applicable to Globe Postpaid, Globe Prepaid, Globe Tattoo Prepaid, and TM.

murag ilad man ni styla...dapat without modification sa dialing procedure diba?
also wa ko kasabot why Php 3/ 12 secs.. then succeeding pulse will be 0.56 centavos / 6 secs. Then on the 2nd minute is 0.75 centavos / 6 secs. lain2x patak.

[markyap]

Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) has implemented the per-pulse billing system for mobile voice calls effective December 6, 2009.

The new billing uses a six-second pulse charging system applicable to domestic SMART-to-SMART or on-net calls.‪It will apply to postpaid (Smart Gold and Infinity) and prepaid services (Smart Buddy and Talk ‘N Text).

A flag-down rate of P3 will be charged on the first two pulses (or 12 seconds) and P0.31 (for Talk 'N Text) and P0.43 (for Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, and Infinity) on the succeeding pulses of the first minute.‪ For succeeding minutes, P0.55 (for Talk ’N Text) and P0.65 (for Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, and Infinity) per pulse will be charged.

To call per-pulse, the following prefixes must be used, plus the number being called:

Smart Gold and Infinity: *5433
Smart Buddy: *5434
Talk ‘N Text: *2255

Subscribers can also opt to be billed per minute, P5.50 for Talk 'N Text and P6.50 for Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, and Infinity, or to subscribe to unlimited or bucket-price service offerings.

Call types supported by the per-pulse billing scheme are call features such as call forwarding and teleconferencing. At present, rates apply to calls made within the SMART and Talk ‘N Text network only.

utro pud ni ang smart...tsk tsk!
3pesos for the 1st 12sec. minaro. that means if your first 12sec you get cut off, you still pay more.
not the fraction of the cost per min suggested in a per pusle charging as it is intended.a loop hole they are exploiting...

[SmaRkieS]

lolz hasol anang ilang murag promo, you need to memorize all the codes para maka less ka, what if they implement nalang dyud na sa ilang system. Hasol pa kaayo mag butang pa mga prefix mga * blah blah pa.

minarunong pud na ilang luoy pud ang walay kalibutang mao gihapon ang rate iyang mabayaran, mo less nalang pud unta na ang ilang 7.50.

mas maayo nalang unta if diretso nalang ka tawag anang number no need pa *blah blah and number blah blah.

[babydarl9]

mao jud. basta lang kay naa sila gi offer nga promo nga ma lesser na ang rate sa tawag. angay ra ni sa mga batan-on i think, but sa katong mga edad-edaran na, kapoyan nana cla mag usab2 pa ug number nga bayaran. kung sincere jud sila ana, pamub-an nana nila dayon ang rates sa calls maski wala pay daghang hasol.

[estor_boot]

inutile man gud ning atong NTC! klaro anang wala sunda sa mga telephone companies ilang order, wala sad silay gibuhat!

mao hinayhinay nakog biya aning bisyo sa cellphone. hehehehe
im limiting myself sa important lang jud kaayo nga text messages. these companies are robbing us big time!