TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – Texters shall benefit from reduced charges for text messaging after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) approved the reduction in the interconnection charges short messaging service or SMS.
In a directive, the NTC ordered that the interconnection charge for SMS between two separate telecommunications networks should not exceed 15 centavos per SMS.
With the enactment of the new rate, the interconnection cost of SMS will be cut by 20 centavos from the prevailing rate of 35 centavos per SMS.
The new SMS interconnection rate was in line with the provisions of the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, which seeks the establishment of fair and reasonable interconnection fee among public operators and other telecommunications service providers.
It also complies with Executive Order 546 of 1979 aiming to further reduce telecommunications costs and foster fair competition in the telecommunications industry.
The reduced SMS interconnection rate will translate to lower retail prices of text messaging service and make the popular telecommunications service more accessible and affordable to a greater number of people throughout the country.
At present, telecommunications entities charge a rate of as low as 10 centavos per text message within their respective networks; but this amount goes up with the addition of the cost of the network receiving the text message, plus the interconnection charge that costs 35 centavos per SMS.