Blow the whistle

What the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) wants Internet service providers to do is akin to asking a bare-naked woman to strip. Strip down to what?

You see, the NTC has asked Internet providers to publish their average Internet connection speed so they can be verified at any given time of the day by irate customers who feel let down by connections running into mere kilobits instead of megabits.

As already tackled here in Groupoint, Philippine Internet connection speed is among the slowest in the world, the Philippines being ranked about 50^th among 55 countries tested for their speed by Akamai Industries, Inc.

The differing speeds promised by Internet providers are specified in their contracts with subscribers, including the minimum speed they are guaranteeing using fine prints. They are all there for everyone to see.  

Thus the usual advertising pitch by providers goes like this: “Up to 3Mbps with a minimum guaranteed speed of 1Mbps.” The problem is not in the disclosure or non-disclosure of speed or even in that old, dirty trick called the “fine print.”

The problem is that the NTC would not, on its own, see to it that the minimum speeds guaranteed by Internet providers are met by the latter 24/7. The NTC says it would only act if and when customers actually lodge complaints before it.

NTC is the regulator of these Internet service providers, so NTC must regulate motu propio without waiting for complainants. NTC itself must blow the whistle or is it too lazy to do its job? –End- 

 

Image by: ibnlive.com