PLDT blocks Globe’s Internet phone service over access charges dispute

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the nation’s biggest telecommunications company, has barred rival Globe Telecom Inc.’s Internet phone service until they agree on connection fees.

PLDT blocked the service after discovering that calls from overseas were routed through Globe’s Internet phone service as local calls. "The illegal bypass deprived PLDT of the required access charges," the company said in a statement.

Calls from the US and the United Kingdom to the Philippines were being routed through Globe’s Internet phone service to PLDT phones. Globe, the second-biggest phone company in the Philippines, "blocked" Internet calls to other networks as soon as the "illegal overseas calls" were discovered months ago, Globe vice president Froilan Castelo said.

"A new interconnection agreement is being discussed in light of what happened," said Castelo. The two parties may base the connection fees for Internet calls on "the amount of data" used, the Globe official said.

Philippine phone companies charge each other P4 a minute for calls from fixed lines to mobile phones and P3 for cellular phone calls to landlines. International calls made to fixed lines cost 12 US cents a minute and overseas calls to Philippine mobile phones cost 16 cents a minute.

PLDT has filed a complaint with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against Innove Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, for routing international calls to PLDT’s network without an interconnection agreement.

PLDT said calls from the US and the UK were being routed and connected as a local call to PLDT landlines through Innove’s GlobeQUEST Webphone, its PC-to-phone voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service.

"Routine monitoring done by PLDT has disclosed that incoming calls from GlobeQUEST WebPhone service from the US and United Kingdom, and from the regional area to a local PLDT phone were routed at the local interconnect of PLDT and Innove without the benefit of an interconnect arrangement and are charged and/or rated as local calls to Metro Manila," PLDT said. 

PLDT said the practice violated the terms and conditions of its local interconnection agreement with Innove, where both parties have agreed not to engage in an operation or service that constitutes uncompensated bypass of their respective systems.

The illegal uncompensated bypass deprived PLDT of the required access charges, PLDT added.

During a hearing at the NTC, Innove acknowledged that there was indeed a call bypass. As a result, it has put the GlobeQUEST WebPhone service "temporarily on hold and initiated the immediate blocking of access to PLDT network."

In a letter to PLDT, Innove added there was "no intention on its part to avoid the payment of appropriate access charges to PLDT. However, there are some unscrupulous users who bring Globe1 cards abroad and use the WebPhone service to call PLDT subscribers. This was done despite the clear instructions in the website that the GlobeQUEST WebPhone service is limited to Philippine users only."

Negotiation between the two parties is on-going and is being facilitated by the NTC.

Interconnection refers to the linkage, by wire, radio, satellite or other means, of two or more existing carriers with one another to enable subscribers of one operator to reach the subscribers of the other carriers.

Without an interconnection arrangement, the routing of calls from GlobeQUEST WebPhone to the local subscribers of PLDT is tantamount to a bypass, PLDT said. Bypass is defined as a situation where an entity other than the local exchange carrier (LEC) provides long distance service by establishing direct access to an end-user within the LEC’s authorized local exchange service area. —  Mary Ann Ll. Reyes