GLOBE Telecom Inc. said on Tuesday, August 10, 2022, that Dito Telecommunity should pay them for interconnect penalties amounting to P622 million.
In a statement, Globe said they have asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to compel Dito to pay them the amount over “fraudulent calls” that bypassed proper voice traffic channels.
“An average of 1,000 fraudulent calls -- identified as international in origin but masked as local calls -- are allowed to pass through Dito’s network to Globe users every day, in violation of interconnect rules,” the firm said.
“The penalty covering one year, from July 2021 to July 2022, has ballooned with Dito’s adamant refusal to compensate Globe, defying provisions of its interconnect agreement on bypass traffic. In comparison, zero or no bypass traffic has been allowed to pass from Globe to Dito due to its advanced monitoring systems and sophisticated network protection from illegal calls,” it added.
Globe said they continue to detect fraudulent calls passing through Dito’s network to date.
The telecommunication giant asked the NTC to authorize a temporary disconnection of trunk lines with Dito until it takes “positive and concrete steps to stop all illegal bypass operations emanating from its network.”
It also wants Dito to pay all its outstanding liabilities to Globe for fraudulent calls.
“Moreover, these unabated illegal activities have placed the interconnection trunks at serious risk of abuse and the resultant undue congestion of the network, to the detriment of the subscribers,” Globe said.
In response, Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said Globe’s position that interconnection will be done only if they pay the alleged penalties is already an “admission that they are making interconnection, which is mandated by law, subject to the acceptance of this alleged obligation.”
He said publicizing the alleged interconnection penalties or international simple resale (ISR) calls is a “disclosure of confidential business information that is a violation of PCC’s (Philippine Competition Commission) rules of procedure.”
“However, given that they have already publicly disclosed this information, then Dito has a right to respond,” said Tamano.
“Dito is equally a victim of such calls. Additionally, there are also ISR calls from Globe to Dito. It is not true that Dito has not taken steps to stop ISR calls to Globe. We have the data and the facts to show the steps undertaken by Dito to minimize these ISR calls,” he added.
Tamano said they are pursuing the charges they filed before PCC on Monday, August 8, following complaints against Globe and PLDT-Smart over their anti-competitive practices in their interconnection deals.
The company said their subscribers find it “very difficult” to interconnect with Globe and PLDT-Smart subscribers.
Out of the 100 calls from Dito users to Globe and Smart, only 20 to 30 calls went through.
Dito even accused the two firms of “abuse” of their dominance, noting that they could increase their market share once the matter is addressed.
As of July, four months after their commercial launch, Dito already has 10.3 million subscribers.
In April, Dito completed its interconnection with the two other telcos that will allow their subscribers to exchange calls and text messages.
Tamano advised Globe to go to proper tribunal to enforce their monetary claims, noting that the NTC is not a collection agency. (SunStar Philippines)