Congressman goes after Smart, Bayantel for 'poor services'

Congressman goes after Smart, Bayantel for 'poor services'
04/08 3:51:30 PM

A Mindanao congressman Friday asked the House of Representatives to investigate Smart Communications and the Bayan Telecommunications (Bayantel) for its alleged "poor service to its subscribers".

In House Resolution 1197, Rep. Manuel "Way Kurat" Zamora (Lone district, Compostela Valley) cited specifically the "Fixed Wireless Broadband (WIFI), Digital Subscribers Line (DSL) and the Dial-up Internet Service" being offered by the two giant communications companies to the consumers.

Citing a report entitled "Consumers suffer from poor broadband service" published in a leading newspaper, Zamora said many consumers have expressed dissatisfaction with WIFI, and DSL and the dial-up Internet services being offered by the telecommunications companies.

Zamora said many consumers have been complaining of numerous disconnections and other technical problems with regards to WIFI Internet connection being offered by Smart Communications.

The same complaints are being aired by consumers on the DSL and dial-up Internet services of Bayantel claiming technical problems and even a major outage in Quezon City, Zamora said.

Zamora said the consumers also complain of poor accessibility, unreachable, and busy lines to these telecommunications' service centers and support services when consumers tried to report their complaints.

Zamora stressed that while the telecommunications companies contend that these technical problem are part of the services' "birth pains", it is clear that the consumers are at the losing end.

Zamora said consumers called this a rip off because they are continuously billed monthly and yet they can neither terminate their subscriptions with the Internet providers nor get a rebate, due to the "locked-in-period" clause.

According to Zamora, many consumers have already related this issue to the Department of Trade and Industry's Bureau of Trade Regulations and Consumers Protection but the agency said it couldn't do anything about the problem citing lack of jurisdication over the matter.

Most of the complaints were forwarded to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Even the government has maintained a "hands-off" policy when it comes to dealing with consumers' issues in a deregulated business environment such as that of telecommunications industry.

"There is a need to look into this matter to protect the consumers and propose remedial legislative measures that will clearly mandate regulatory policies and provide appropriate sanctions to erring telecom companies," Zamora said.

 

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