By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:10am (Mla time) 01/28/2007
THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has given telephone companies five days to submit their reaction to new draft rules set to facilitate interconnection in provinces, officials told INQUIRER.net.
During a public hearing held Thursday, the NTC required local exchange carriers (LECs) to submit their position papers next week before it could decide if it needs to hold another public meeting.
The proposed rules require carriers to stop collecting long distance charges or access fees from calls made from one carrier to another within a province, said Edgardo Cabarios, NTC Common Carriers Authorization Department Director, in a telephone interview.
Interconnection among LECs operating within certain provinces are often stalled due to unending negotiations on how to share facilities, Cabarios added.
Current NTC rules state that no long distance fees should be collected from calls within provinces. But these rules have no explicit provisions regulating the interconnection of LECs in provinces.
Since LECs refuse to interconnect, consumers now pay long distance charges whenever they call rival carriers even within the same province.
"Our new rules will facilitate negotiations because interconnection rules will be specified," the NTC official added.
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=46007
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