MANILA - Globe Telecom on Wednesday said DITO Telecommunity's penalty for violations of interconnect agreement, currently at P622 million, is growing daily.

In a statement, Globe said the fine, due to international simple resale (ISR) or fraudulent calls through DITO's network, increases about P2.5 million every day.

ISRs are calls that bypass traffic, or international calls masked as local calls. About 1,000 of these calls are detected passing through DITO's network each day, Globe said.

"DITO has refused to compensate Globe for interconnect violations, and its debt to Globe has continued to increase even as it petitioned the NTC for additional interconnection capacity despite continued breach of our agreement," Globe said.

"These illegal calls clog the network to the detriment of our customers. We need to take utmost caution as ISR calls also carry the risk of exposing our customers to vishing or voice call scams," Globe Group General Counsel Froilan Castelo.

Castelo added that the calls violate Article 10.1 of its interconnection agreement with DITO.

The Ayala-led telco said it has requested the National Telecommunication Commission to temporarily disconnect the interconnect trunk lines between Globe and DITO since July 22, 2022.

Its interconnection deal with DITO has provisions which allows Globe to seek payment for penalties and to ask the NTC to terminate the said deal, it added.

• Smart also takes swipe at DITO, says third telco failed to curb 'fraudulent calls'

Smart also earlier flagged DITO for allegedly failing to curb fraudulent calls.

Meanwhile, DITO filed complaints against Globe Telecom and Smart Communications for "abuse of dominant position" citing difficulty in making calls from DITO to Smart and DITO to Globe.

On Wednesday, DITO said the two older telco giants are using the penalty issue to create a "ruse."

In response, Castelo said “contrary to DITO’s claim that we are citing its debt as a “ruse” to hamper interconnectivity, we assert that its continued violations of our interconnect agreement cannot and shall not be left unchecked as it congests the network, affecting our customers. Their ongoing violation and unpaid debt are a fact, not a ruse,” asserts Castelo.

Globe also said its interconnection for Globe-DITO subscribers exists, opposing DITO's claims that only about 30 calls out of 100 push through.

• DITO says Globe, Smart using penalty issue as 'ruse' to prevent interconnection

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