Senator Lito Lapid filed a new bill requiring the country’s telecommunication companies to have a refund mechanism for service interruption.
Senate Bill No. 2092 is what Sen. Lapid submitted which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy of the Philippines.
This move from the man who is also known as “Leon Guerrero” and for the entire senate as a whole, is so timely especially that many Filipinos are now dependent on the internet either for business, education, or just simply update their profile on social media.
“For an Internet-dependent, data-driven world where almost all aspects of our daily life rely on being ‘online’ and ‘connected,’ service outages, disruptions and interruptions cause discomfort, lost opportunities, or worse, lost profits and income,” Lapid said.
“Nationwide outages had even disrupted Senate committee hearings. In fact, data from a website monitoring real-time status and outage information revealed that for a single day, reports of outages for certain Philippine internet service providers (ISPs) peaked to as high as 50 outages,” it added.
Currently, if there are connection outages, subscribers still got billed regardless if they’re on prepaid or post-paid plans.
“[T]hey are paying for a service that they have not enjoyed or used for hours, if not, even days through no fault on their part,” he added.
Apart from computers and smartphones, there are now familiar house electronics starts to evolve and also become internet-dependent. It’s really nice to hear that our government is also monitoring this digital side of our lives so that everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy this 20th-century technology.
“The principle behind this measure is quite simple—that there is no unjust enrichment on the part of big businesses to the prejudice of consumers,” Lapid said.
“Not even a single centavo shall be paid out of the pockets of our people for a service that they did not use due to an outage or disruption,” he added.