By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
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.
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