Kalinga internet users urge Congress: Probe NTC execs

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Congress was urged by internet users here to probe if Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba and other officials of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) are fit to lead the agency tasked to regulate and supervise telecom companies (telcos).

In a letter addressed to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, Senate Public Services Committee Chairman Grace Poe, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and House Committee on Information and Communications Technology Chairman Victor Yap, 30 Internet users here accused Cordoba of sitting on two NTC orders which they claimed as vital for protection of Internet subscribers.

They said the NTC memoranda were intended to protect users from the “opaque, deceptive and opportunistic manner the telcos deal with users and the public.”

The first issuance, which Cordoba signed on July 15, 2011, directs broadband service providers to disclose minimum broadband/Internet connection speeds and service reliability and service rates on their advertisements, flyers, brochures and service agreements.

“This is intended to stop the practice of telcos of enticing subscribers through the advertisement of their appealing maximum speeds which in truth can only be experienced in the dead of the night while the rest of the day, the signal could go down to or even lower than 10 percent of the advertised speed,” the letter said.

Meanwhile, a circular dated August 13, 2015 upholds the right of users to be informed of the quality of the broadband/Internet connection service being provided.

Lawyer Errol Comafay, one of the signatories, said right to information is a constitutionally protected right and in this modern age, people access information through the Internet which makes it imperative for the government to ensure efficient and reliable Internet service.

“How can the government do this when the agency charged with supervising the operations of the telcos could not even implement simple measures it has crafted?” Comafay asked.

He said apart from the move to have Congress investigate NTC officials, Tabuk City internet users have a pending case against Cordoba before the Ombudsman for ignoring their complaint against Smart filed on Nov. 10, 2015.