A lawmaker has filed a bill requiring cellular phone service providers to provide individual end-users, post paid and pre-paid, a daily customer billing report, a press release from Congress said.

"In doing so, this will protect the welfare of each end-user as consumers and shield them from deceptive, unfair and unconscionable acts and practices," Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco (Lone District, Marinduque), author of House Bill 6335, said.

Under the measure, all cellular phone service providers are mandated to provide the individual end-users, post-paid and pre-paid, a customer billing report on a daily basis, the press release said.

This should include the number of calls made; number of text messages made; average and maximum call length; summary of cost of each call or message made and total cost payable for the day, the press release also said.

The report shall be delivered in "short-messaging service" form to the individual end-users by their respective service providers, it added.

Velasco said the imbalance of information bestowed upon the individual consumer leaves room for the big firms to possibly carry out insidious machinations to beef up their profit or indirectly transfer to the consumers the dues that they themselves should be accountable.

The bill recognizes the need for the end-users of cellular services to be regularly informed of their individual billing reports in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act 7925 otherwise known as the "Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines", the press release said.

A cellular service provider who violates the provisions of the proposed act shall be penalized with a fine of P500,000 for the first offense; P1 million for the second offense and P5 million for the third offense, the press release said.*

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