OFFICIAL STATEMENT: One Year Expiry of Prepaid Load

Globe Telecom will comply with the NTC-DICT-DTI Joint Memorandum Circular No. 05-12-2017 prescribing a one (1) year expiration period for prepaid load. Effective January 5, 2018, all Globe prepaid load with denomination of 300 pesos and above will carry a one (1) year expiration period.

We welcome the latest directive of the DICT granting a six months extension on the implementation of the 1-year load expiration for denominations below 300 pesos.

Telecommunications as a business requires complex, advanced and real time systems that should be extensively tested, bearing in mind the impact to our 57 million prepaid customers, including transactions and voice, SMS, and data traffic that these systems support. The 6-months extension will give us ample time to prepare for the smooth and seamless implementation of the expiration change across all denominations.

Among the changes that we will address are the following:

1. Expansion of Capacity. Extension of the load expiry will require additional capacity and additional cost. While we have built adequate capacity for 2018, we will need to build more capacity and purchase additional licenses to accommodate the change. This will include purchase of licenses and software programming by third party vendors.

2. System Tests. We will conduct optimization and interoperability tests to minimize any adverse impact to customers when we implement changes and expand the capacity of several information technology systems.

3. Additional Number Series. To fully implement the change, we will need additional number series from the NTC. Otherwise, we will run out of numbers as a direct result of the longer load expiration period. Moreover, we need to define and fully test the new number series before making them available for our new customers.

Furthermore, there may be new conditions applied to prepaid services within the next six months to ensure a sustainable quality of service. 

-Atty. Froilan Castelo, General Counsel