Appeals court junks ‘text’ refundBad news for mobile phone “texters.”The Court of Appeals (CA) has junked the order of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to telecom firms to refund their subscribers some P7 billion in excess short message service (SMS) or texting charges. The NTC had ruled that telecom firms Globe, Smart and Digitel violated NTC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. Telecom firms had previously argued that it would be difficult to implement the refund because the identities of millions of prepaid subscribers are not known. Regulators had estimated the refund at P7 billion, to be returned by way of prepaid load discounts or, in the case of postpaid subscribers, a deduction or refund. While the intention of the NTC was for the good of subscribers, fair play and justice must be observed, the court said.

Source: Manila Times July 18, 2016 14:48 UTC