philtechnology

Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc (Digitel) on Wednesday said it has complied with the order of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to compensate 13 employees dismissed in 2005.

In a statement, Reuben Pangan, Digitel spokesperson, said more than half of the 13 former employees accepted their separation pay as ordered by the High Tribunal

Digitel however has been unable to commence negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) as ordered by DOLE to implement the court decision, Pangan said, adding that there was no collective bargaining unit to talk to after the company completed its redundancy program on March 15.

He said Digitel has had to conduct this redundancy program following the decision to migrate over 140,000 landline subscribers in its franchise areas in northern, central, and southern Luzon to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT).

To recall, PLDT two years ago bought Digitel from the Gokongwei group. Digitel operates Sun Cellular.

Pangan’s statements came on the heels of the Digitel Employees Union’s (DEU) protest against PLDT’s voluntary retirement program.

“In our manifestation to the DOLE, we have signified that due to supervening events that involve the separation of employees due to the redundancy program, Digitel has no rank-and-file employees as of March 16, 2013, hence, a non-existent collective bargaining unit,” Pangan said.

He noted that nearly 80 percent of the remaining 424 Digitel employees agreed to the redundancy program that provided a package that was approximately twice the amount required by law plus a two-year medical coverage.

“PLDT and Sun Cellular have even agreed to hire around two-thirds of the affected employees, and those who cannot be absorbed have been given assistance through livelihood trainings and workshops,” Pangan said.

He said the former Digitel employees picketing within the PLDT premises did not question the redundancy program at the DOLE or in courts.

“Only about 70 employees refused to accept the redundancy package and less than 30 participate in the illegal picket. It is clear the handful of picketers have very little or almost no support from former Digitel employees,” Pangan said.

Say goodbye to unexpected data charges as wireless leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) introduces its Anti-Bill Shock (ABS) feature across all of mobile and broadband postpaid plans.

“‘Bill shock’ is now a thing of the past,” said Smart Postpaid Business Head Kathy Carag. “From today, all data charges from our postpaid offerings will be capped to certain amount so that our subscribers could enjoy worry-free surfing 24/7,” she said.

Data charging has been identified to be one of the leading causes of ‘unexpected charges  particularly for subscribers using Internet-enabled smartphones.

Based on internal data, a number of mobile users are not aware that their new phones automatically connect to data services. This ‘background connection’ incurs charges which may result to excessive monthly bills.

With ABS in place, Smart Postpaid users who are not enrolled to either an Unlisurf or Always On package will be charged the default rate of P10 per 30 minutes until his or her data charges reach a total of Php1,200.

To illustrate, a Smart All-In Plan 500 subscriber who has consumed P300 worth of voice and SMS services and unknowingly keeps his or her data connection on will only be charged a maximum of Php1,500 until the end of the billing cycle.

Similarly, Smart Bro Postpaid users who exceed their monthly allocation will also be charged the default rate of P10 per 30 minutes until his or her data charges reach P999.

If a Smart Bro Flexisurf Pocket WiFi Plan 599 subscriber for example exceeds the 50 hour monthly allocation, he or she will only be charged an additional Php400 for the excess data charges. The plan then essentially turns into an unlimited surfing plan until the next billing cycle.

“It’s worry-free mobile surfing at its best,” said Smart Broadband Internet and Data Services Head Lloyd Manaloto. “Come try out the best data connection only from the network with four times more fiber power,” he said.

Manaloto refers to Smart and parent firm PLDT’s modernized mobile network which has been super-charged with 54,000kms of fiber optic cables (FOCs).

FOCs, unlike legacy copper wiring, uses beams of light to deliver and receive data from the core network to the base station and vice versa.

“Our fiber-powered network can handle millions of calls, billions of texts, and trillions of bytes of data, said Manaloto. “We have the only truly future-proof network in the Philippines.

To know more about Smart’s data plans, visit http://www.smart.com.ph or go to a Smart Store nearest you.