Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the primary author of the Mobile Number Portability Act (MNPA), said the recently issued implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on the law would have been better if the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) imposed fewer grounds to reject applications for mobile number portability.
“Upholding the welfare of consumers is one of the primary reasons why we championed the passage of the MNPA in the 17th Congress. In keeping with this spirit, I believe that NTC was able to draft a consumer-friendly IRR, especially in specifying the prerequisites for porting, and the terms of the time periods for cut-over and the porting process itself, among others,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Wednesday, June 26.
“However, the IRR itself is not without flaws. It would have been a major win for consumers had there been less grounds to reject applications for mobile number portability. After all, we want to encourage consumers to avail this service, especially when they feel they are not getting the service they deserve from their respective networks,” he added.
The lawmaker, however, cited the NTC for the speedy issuance of the IRR. “With this, mobile number portability is finally within the reach of every Filipino,” he said.
The NTC earlier said local telcos have six months to comply upon the effectivity of the IRR on July 2. This means that subscribers can only start to apply for number portability in January 2020.
