NTC’s decision to require all cellular phones sold in the market to have NTC-approved stickers would create another level of bureaucratic red tape that would lead to corruption. Imported mobile phones will not be released by the Bureau of Customs unless importers have secured the NTC stickers. The cost of a sticker for each cellular phone could be passed on the user, thus, putting additional cost to the price of a cellular phone. Owners of mobile phones are required to register with the NTC once their units are sold to other persons or authorized resellers.
Another issue that may crop up is the possible proliferation of fake NTC stickers. This could be another problem of NTC that is already burdened with monitoring, regulating and policing the industry. Will the stickers be tamper-proof? What are the safeguards in order to prevent fake NTC stickers?
If car stickers with the LTO are faked, then it could also happen in NTC stickers. With p75 as one-time registration fee per unit, NTC could rake in millions of pesos in revenue over the next several years from stickers and registration fees alone. Combined subscribers of the three cellular phone providers could reach more than 32 million.
Sources said resellers or distributors of mobile phones without the required NTC approved stickers will be fined R5,000 per unit. — Edu H. Lopez
Text messaging
brouhaha rages on
Talking of text messaging rates, service providers are making billions of pesos in profits from valueadded services such as SMS. Who does not want to have free text messages? And consumers want to have lower rates in text messaging. Any move to raise the rates could be met by resistance from the public. Text messaging which is currently pervasive and the most popular medium of communication has revolutionized the lives of Filipinos. On the other hand, these providers have invested billions of pesos to put up the network and telecommunications infrastructure to better serve their customers. And no company would dare to invest in any venture if it is a losing proposition.
Coinciding with these developments, we got a statement from consumer group TXTPower who issued a challenge to Globe Telecom to immediately implement its "90 for six days" offer made at the end of NTC-brockered settlement talks with the group.
TXTPower spokesperson Anthony Ian Cruz said that what the talks proved is that Globe can and may change prices if it really wants to and it is patently untrue that new Unlitxt prices cannot be changed. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata. — Edu H. Lopez
Revenues from SMEs
barely makes a dent
Meanwhile, the Oracle Philippines boss seems happy these days because he is confident of meeting his targets for the company’s fiscal year ending in May. However, Francis Ong has admitted that there are challenges along the way such as sustaining Oracle’s market share, closing new contracts or finding new clients. Francis has been in the country for more than four years and he knows pretty well the market. Bulk of Oracle’s business is generated from the enterprise applications and database and not so much with the small and medium. What about competition? Oracle’s arch rival is SAP, a German company whose favorite color is blue. — Edu H. Lopez
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