MANILA (XFN-ASIA) – Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) has filed a complaint with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against Innove Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of rival Globe Telecom Inc, for routing calls to PLDT’s landline network without an interconnection agreement.

PLDT told the NTC that calls from the US and the UK were being routed and connected as a local call to PLDT landlines through Innove’s GlobeQUEST Webphone, its PC-to-phone Voice over Internet Protocol service.

”Routine monitoring done by PLDT has disclosed that incoming calls from GlobeQUEST Webphone service from the US and the UK, and from regional areas to a local PLDT phone, were routed at the local interconnect of PLDT and Innove without the benefit of an interconnection agreement and are charged as local calls to Metro Manila,” PLDT said in its letter to the NTC.

PLDT said Innove violated the terms and conditions of their local interconnection deal in which they agreed not to engage in a service that constitutes uncompensated bypass of their respective systems.

PLDT said Innove’s practice deprived it of the appropriate access charges.

Globe Telecom vice-president for regulatory affairs Froilan Castelo said the company had already blocked access to the PLDT landline network last August when it learned that unscrupulous users brought Globe1 cards abroad and used the WebPhone service to call PLDT subscribers.

”We initiated the blocking and limited the service to the Globe network,” said Castelo in a phone interview.

Castelo said Globe is now negotiating with PLDT for an interconnection agreement to resolve the issue.

”Talks are ongoing and we expect to hammer out an agreement before the end of the year.  Both parties are studying what should be the proper access charges,” said Castelo.

Source- http://www.mb.com.ph