Senator Grace Poe, the head of Philippine Senate Committee on Public Services, will be forming a panel to evaluate the possibility of removing phone load expiries and hear out the concerns of all stakeholders involved, including telecoms.
Last November, Sen. Gatchalian filed a bill that seeks the removal of load expiration dates to extend the validity of prepaid load credits indefinitely. This will be one of many bills that the panel will tackle, besides other bills such as the ones seeking the required registration of subscriber identity module or SIM cards.
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Telcos have naturally opposed the proposal to remove load expiration dates. Their main argument against it is carrying cost, that they as a business can incur a variety of costs for letting their subscribers hold on to their phone load practically forever.
Poe acknowledges a balanced solution must be made so that telecoms find a common ground with subscribers, many of whom often struggle on expensive, short-lived phone load.