Senator Lito Lapiz filed a bill seeking the non-expiry of unused internet data until the end of the year.
Lapiz file Senate Bill No. 1880 entitled “AN ACT MANDATING AND INSTITUTIONALIZING ROLL-OVER DATA ALLOCATION SCHEME, PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”
Under the proposed measure, “unused data allocation from internet data packages or promos will not expire but will instead carry over to succeeding months until the end of the year.”
“If at the end of the year, there are still remaining unused data allocations, the same will be converted into rebates which, in turn, may be used for future subscriptions,” Lapi said.
The senator added subscribers would definitely get the full value of their money in paying for these packages and promo. This will prevent the common scenario wherein subscribers will lose megabytes (MB), if not gigabytes (GB), of data allocation ‘just because the package’s expiry date or promo had already passed.
However, subscribers who would avail of any unlimited Internet data package shall be exempted from the said benefit.
Also read: Honasan: Internet in the Philippines ‘not that bad’
Senator files bill seeking non-expiry of unused internet data
Any Internet Service Provider who fails to comply with any of the roll-over data act provisions would pay a fine of Php 300,000.00 for the first offense and a fine of Php 500,000.00 for the second offense. In case of a subsequent offense, a fine of Php 1,000,000.00 and the revocation of the ISP’s license and the franchise would be imposed.
The bill tasked the Department of Information and Communications Technology to coordinate with the National Telecommunications Commission and other concerned agencies in crafting the implementing rules and regulations.
World Bank and the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) joint study revealed that Filipinos are paying for one of the most costly but slowest internet connections in the world.
The report said 57 percent or 12.2 million Filipino families still do not have access to the Internet while those who are connected suffer from slow download speeds.
The average mobile broadband download speed in the Philippines is only 16.76 megabits per second (Mbps). It is below the global average of 32.01 Mbps.
The country’s 3G/4G mobile average download speed of 7 Mbps is slower than the ASEAN average of 13.26 Mbps.