Senator Estrada wants ISP and telcos to give automatic refunds on interruptions

Sentator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada suggests internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunication companies to process automatic refunds should they experience service interruptions.



“A refund should be in order if the service outages would accumulate to 24 hours in a month. Serbisyo ang binabayaran natin. Kapag hindi ka nakabayad ng iyong bill sa itinakda nilang due date ng pagbabayad, mabilis pa sa alas kwatro ang pagputol nila ng linya. Kung hindi rin naman nila matutumbasan ang serbisyong binabayaran natin, dapat ikaltas ito sa ating mga bayarin,” Estrada stated.

Senate Bill No. 2074, or the proposed Refund for Internet and Telecommunications Service Outages and Disruptions Act, was filed by or Estrada last April 27. The goal of this bill is to mandate that public telecommunication companies (PTEs) and ISPs create a system that would allow them to immediately reimburse or modify the bills of their postpaid and prepaid users whenever there are service interruptions.

Customers who pay in advance for a service will also be eligible for the refund credit.

“This measure intends to implement fair charging of services of telcos and ISPs to the consumers. It is important that they receive the service that is worth every cent that they pay, and they will not be charged for the service that they were not able to avail of,” the senator added.