To strengthen consumer rights in a country that has long grappled with slow and unreliable internet service, a bill mandating refunds for consumers affected by internet connectivity disruptions was filed in the House of Representatives.
House Bill No. 5318 seeks to give a refund credit to consumers who experience a disruption in Internet service for at least 24 hours within a month, excluding outages as determined by the proposed plan.
“Consumers have the right to uninterrupted service and no outage beyond a reasonable period,” Quezon representative Renante U. Aroganshya said in an explanatory note to the measure, which was filed on Oct. 3.
According to 2024 data, Filipinos pay an average of P2,049 per month for internet subscription cable.co.ukThe Philippines is ranked as the seventh most expensive country for broadband in East and Southeast Asia.
According to the bill, all Internet service providers are covered under this measure and are required to automatically apply bill adjustments “without consumer demand” when the service disruption reaches 24 hours.
Telecom companies will have to issue a 48-hour maintenance notice to exempt downtime from the mandatory refund scheme.
The proposal states that companies that fail to issue waivers to affected users face a fine of P50,000 to P200,000 for each violation, and repeated violations may result in the revocation of the service provider's congressional franchise.
Ronald B. Gustillo, national campaigner for digital advocacy network Digital Pinoys, said the measure will force telecommunications companies to maintain service reliability standards, strengthening their responsibility to maintain consistent and uninterrupted Internet access for consumers.
“Now is the time to create a refund mechanism for the lost service and the government should pass it as soon as possible,” he said in a Viber message.
He said the refund system should be transparent, suggesting it should be calculated by multiplying the monthly internet fee by the number of hours wasted, then dividing by 730 – the average number of hours in a month.
He said Internet service providers should provide periodic reports to the National Telecom Commission for auditing and ensuring compliance with service standards. – Kenneth Christian L. basilio
