New Year’s Top 10 wish list for texters and mobile activists

As we countdown to the end of 2005 and the start of 2006, allow me to share this list of best wishes for everyone who likes mobiles and uses them for activism:

1. Low call and text rates – Some say that we have far lower call and text rates compared with our Asian neighbors and those in other places but Filipinos do not live in similar conditions. A five-minute local mobile call in the Philippines eats up as much as 20 percent of a day’s minimum wage! Meanwhile, texting ought to be provided on a flat rate, unlimited basis simply because this service is already integral in GSM mobile technology. This means that the telcos Globe, Smart and Sun could provide it for free, and if not for free, at really low rates considering that they do not spend additional dollars of pesos just to provide the service. Lest we forget, SMS is built-in in GSM mobile technology.
2. Better deals for consumers – We’d like to see the terms and conditions governing prepaid and postpaid mobile accounts redrawn, and consumers given more safeguards against abuses by telcos. It would be better if the telcos provide one-year lock-in periods for postpaid subscribers; The current two-year contracts is double the deals offered in Europe, North America and elsewhere in the world. 3G technology should be made available this year but not at costly, anti-masa prices. Telcos should pay for each spam text.
3. Get VOIP going now – Ever wonder why PLDT has been able to offer P5.00/minute international calls through its prepaid Budget IDD Card? Well, the secret should come out now: The giant telco is using VOIP or voice over internet protocol in processing those calls. If the State makes VOIP freely available to all interested providers, it would result in lower telecommunications costs for business, government, our OFWs and their relatives and the general public. It would be tragic if only PLDT and some other oligopoly player play the role of exclusive VOIP providers. VOIP should belong to and serve the people!
4. Cut down the oligopoly to size – Only the telcos and their paid hacks would say we do not have an oligopoly riding high on the lucrative mobile telephone business in the Philippines. Their sheer size and their cartel-like behavior have kept prices rather low and even attempted to kill their newest competitor. Consumers lose a lot due to oligopolies.
5. Could we possibly check what the foreign partners of Globe, Smart and Sun are exactly doing with the profits they get from their partnerships? – One thing about the telcos that has not been exposed to sunlight is their foreign partners: Deutshe Telekom and Singtel for Globe, and NTT for Smart. How much of the local companies do they really own and how much are their annual profits from their holdings? Are all these money merely repatriated to Germany, Singapore and Japan and not reinvested here in the country?
6. Goodbye Gloria! – Yeah, as long as the highly divisive President Arroyo hangs on illegitimately to power, she will cause more and more problems and distract the people from nation-building. She is a rah-rah girl of corporate interests and follows each and every dictate of the evil World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, including new taxes, higher EVAT and the proposed tax on text messaging.
7. The defeat of the fake yet deadly anti-terrorism bill – Under this measure that is being rushed by Arroyo loyalists, terrorists will be happy because the entire population could be considered terrorist suspects, all our major civil, political and human rights would be curtailed, and the police and the military would have martial law-like powers without martial law being declared. Our calls, text messages and identities would be compromised. We could be dubbed terrorists just by spreading anti-Gloria jokes and announcements of rallies. Meanwhile, the bills’ proponents have not been able to clearly show how the proposed law could deter terrorism.
8. More mobileactivist and cybercampaigns – You read it right. TXTPower is raring to go into winnable battles, be it against abusive telcos or a really rotten pseudo-president. Expect powerful follow ups to the Hello Garci ringtone and the Google bombings.
9. MobileActive AfroAsia – Filipinos have been considered in the forefront of mobileactivism and cybercampaigns especially after People Power 2 and the successful anti-text tax, anti-SIM registration, anti-Gloria campaigns. Thus, TXTPower has seized the initiative in starting the trek towards a MobileActive AfroAsia, a pan-continental alliance of groups advocating consumer rights and using mobiles for activism, which is hoped to be convened this year. We also look forward to MobileActive’s 2006 meeting.
10. Time for Free and Open Source Software – The government, business, schools and the public would save hundreds of millions, if not billions, of pesos if we all seriously shift from proprietary Microsoft Windows to free Linux. People could tailorfit Linux based on their needs, and its largely free or at low cost. Unknown to many, we spend precious money for Microsoft to provide us with expensive yet unsecure software.