MANILA, Philippines - The National Telecommunication Commission wants local mobile service providers to gradually cut interconnection charges to further bring down the cost of each text message by 20 centavos and each call by P2.50 in the next five years.

Two draft circulars obtained by the Inquirer modified similar orders that the NTC tried to implement in 2008—that would have mandated one-time reduction in fees—which leading telecom firms opposed.

Interconnection charges refer to the fees shouldered by consumers for calls made or text messages sent to phones covered by other networks.

While the costs of short messaging service or SMS and voice calls within the same network have gone down significantly as a result of “bucket price” promos offered by the telcos, the costs for the same services from one network to another have remained high.

Text messages made from one network to another cost P1 each, while voice calls cost P6.50 per minute.

Under the proposed rules, the interconnection charge for text messages will be brought down to 25 centavos from the current 35 centavos in the first year of implementation.