NTC asks Globe to explain data cap complaints

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has asked Globe Telecom to explain the data capping they have enforced more stringently since January."Complainants alleged that you are placing them on the network with a slow data connection once they reached a certain volume of data, e.g one gigabyte (1GB) ," NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said in a letter.Cordoba has called Froilan Castelo, Globe Telecom's senior vice president, to submit the telco’s and explanation on or before 12 February.Users were up in arms over Globe Telecom’s implementation of the data cap on their alleged unlimited data plans, which was heavily criticized as a misleading marketing ploy.Users are only allowed to enjoy 3G/LTE speeds amounting to 1GB worth of data daily or 3GB per month. Globe said that only 3% of users exceed these thresholds, and to keep the internet experience of 97% snappy, the cap is said to be needed.In 2011, the NTC issued an official order that asks telcos to disclose their minimum broadband speeds to them and to their users via advertisements, flyers, brochures and service agreements."They are free to implement a data cap under their own fair use policy (FUP), but they should inform their subscribers," he added.The NTC said the minimum service reliability should be 80%. This is calculated by dividing the number of hours used in a month that is at or above the minimum connection speed into the number of hours used in a month.