YPS

Normally I hate the telcos..really.

I think telco services are over priced and for the most part I really think we don't get the service we deserve.

I think that telcos are really cartels that come together and fix prices and influence government policy to try to keep legitimate competition out.

And don't let the fact that Im a cell phone and internet user fool you. If I could learn to psychically transit messages across the universe at the loss of one millisecond of my life per minute I would chose that instead of sticking that phone in my ear. But Im hooked, or more precisely, Im addicted to technology and since ill never be psychic, theres no way I can stop using these services.

But that's fine. Business is business. And surviving in business takes some kinda work.

You cut corners to deliver more profits ( ever noticed how there are more dropped and non connecting calls today then there ever was? Blame Sun for providing some type of competition despite the big two trying to block their entry...but that's another story).

You try to influence regulatory policy to your advantage and raise the barriers of entry to competition.

You try to get all users addicted to your service.

Sucks for us doesn't it? But believe it or not, today, I'm on the telcos side.

Tell me, since when does the Senate and the Congress come together to tell a private company that its earning too much money and that they should cough up some extra cash? Isn't that what taxes are for? Taxes take from the legal earnings of a corporation and allocate part of this collection to social services such as health and education. As far as I know, beyond the proper payment of taxes and outside voluntary corporate social responsibility programs, private business has no other obligation to support any government programs that may have funding problems.

Maybe the good Senator and Congressman are forgetting that the shortfall in budget allocations for Education and Health services are a direct result of corruption within their ranks (CDF) and the government line agencies they are supposed to oversee.

But what makes the public announcement of Bill 2402 so despicable ( both as a citizen and as a businessman) is the way it was done.

This was not done in quiet consultation with the telcos to up their CSR budgets to the equivalent of 20 percent of net income. Rather Sen and Cong publicly declare the incomes of these telcos as a shock value strategy for the otherwise unknowing ( and relatively poor) public.

Then, after stunning the audience with these huge numbers, both turn coy, trying to generate the Robin Hood effect, and ask us to sympathize with their cause with an " oh its only 20 percent...and dami nyo naming kinikita...don't waste it on useless advertising and artistas...sige na... magbigay na kayo para sa edukasyon at health programs."

Senator Gordon even ups the publicity ante by referring to a telcos earnings as "windfall". Windfall is defined as either ( Webster) 1 : something (as a tree or fruit) blown down by the wind 2 : an unexpected, unearned, or sudden gain or advantage. Since the telcos don't sell fruit and there's certainly nothing wrong with an unexpected gain or becoming advantaged, I suppose the implication is that the money earned by the telcos are unearned and therefore much easier to give away.

No talk of tax break or fiscal advantage for this generosity though. Just give us the money and well set up a board ( the Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP) Corporation) to spend it.

Just like that.

What the public doesn't know is that the bill, as proposed by Senator Gordon is that its form as filed is very different from the publicly announce 20 percent voluntary "donation" to be imposed on the telcos (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/09/30/08/gordon-telcos-earn-more-shari...) . In his bill as filed, Senator Gordon actually suggests that instead of the NTC reducing the cost of telco to telco transmission from 1 peso to 50 centavos ( to result in savings to the consumer), he recommends that the NTC MAINTAIN the 1 peso charge and have the government keep the 50 centavos for itself to ( ideally) use on Health and Education programs.

The net effect of this bill? Here's a direct quote from Senate Bill 2402 (http://www.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=14&q=SBN-2402) ; "Using 2007 estimates, there are 53,958,000 mobile phone subscribers in the country. Assuming that every subscriber sends out an average of 10 text messages daily through the country's telecommunication networks at the cost of PI peso per text message, the Fund's 50% share in revenues a day would amount to P 269,790,000. This would translate to a disposable fund of P 98,473,350,000 in one year."

You read right. 98 BILLION.

The difference in public wording during the Senate session makes it seem like the Senators and Congressmans advisors talked him out of discussing the bill as filed for fear of the public backlash. Instead of saying he blocked the NTC move to save the texters some money he puts the onus on the telcos "to share their wealth". Clever.

As barbaric as the approach was, in one fell swoop, Both Sen and Cong instantly position themselves as heroes of the cause of the common tao, expose the supposed avarice of the uncaring telcos, and, in a not so subtle way, remind the telcos that telecommunication licenses and the exclusionary regulations that keep telcos insulated from international competition are based on a congressional franchise and policies set by national agencies under senatorial oversight.

So whats next in this congressional episode???

Will another Senator or Congressman stand up to defend the principles of free enterprise?

Will the defenders of the right to text take up thumbs?

Will Sen and Cong inexplicably withdraw the bill?

Will the telcos cave and work a compromise deal that involves a smaller amount?

Meron bang tong pats?

Bubukol kaya ito?

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.

Interesting that 2010 is just around the corner isn't it?

And as the song goes, "everybody needs a little change".