Globe Telecom Inc. on Wednesday announced that a P50 fee will be charged against postpaid subscribers for failure to settle their obligations on time starting December.
“Starting 1 December 2023, a P50 fee will be charged to your account for payments made after your due date. We encourage you to pay on time to keep your services active,” the Ayala-led telco said in an advisory sent to postpaid subscribers.
As of June, Globe has total postpaid subscriber base of 2.55 million.
Globe’s move to charge postpaid subscribers for late payments was opposed by Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares after the telco’s subscribers came to him to complain about the penalty.
“I think that Globe should be considerate to their subscribers and scrap this fee. Ayusin din nila ang serbisyo nila kesa puro kita at tubo ang inuuna,” Colmenares said.
The Bayan Muna representative noted that services and goods prices have skyrocketed in recent months and that Globe Telecom reported income of P175 billion in 2022.
“Why is it when there are disruptions in Globe’s signal or services for days there is no reduction in the monthly fee for subscribers but now they are asking an automatic P50 for late payment? They have not even given the refund to consumers whom they overcharged via texting fees years back,” Colmernares said.
He said Bayan Muna has filed a petition at the Supreme Court against Globe and Smart for overcharging the text messages of subscribers and refund at least P18 billion. This translates to thousands of pesos worth of load or airtime for each of subscribers.
“We urge the Supreme Court to decide the case” with finality, he added.
Globe representatives were unavailable for comment as of press time.
