Globe not in favor of bill seeking to keep prepaid loads ‘forever’

Globe Telecom on Wednesday said it was not in favor of the proposed measure at the Senate which seeks to remove the expiration of prepaid loads.

"Our position is to continue the existing policy of prepaid load expiration because there are carrying costs (Network and IT costs) in maintaining these in the system. It's like a room where the load cards occupy space that telcos invest in," said Globe Telecom SVP for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto in a statement aired on Lei Alviz's 24 Oras report.

"The load expiration also ensures that only active SIMs are being maintained in the network resulting to greater efficiency," she added.

Since last year, all Globe Telecom prepaid load, including those below P300, carried a one-year expiration period.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has recently filed Senate Bill 365, or the Prepaid Load Forever Act of 2019 which seeks the removal of the expiration period of all prepaid load credits.

Under the bill, load credits of active prepaid accounts shall not expire.

A prepaid account will only be deemed dormant after a year of inactivity. Dormant accounts with existing load credits will be deducted P1 per day until the load is fully consumed.

Smart Communications Inc. did not issue any comment on the proposed measure yet. —Dona Magsino/LDF, GMA News