Philippine operators PLDT and Globe are both filing appeals against a regulatory order to cut SMS rates and pay large sums in reimbursements to their subscribers.
Both companies have confirmed they will fire countersuits in the Court of Appeals, the Business Mirrorreported.
The story cites Globe president Ernest Cu as stating that the operators have a “unified stance” in opposition of the order, which stems from a long-running dispute over inteconnection rates.
Operators have been given until the end of this week to file an appeal or accept the NTC's order.
Earlier this month, the NTC sent out a notice rejecting motions from Globe and PLDT's two mobile units seeking to reverse an order to cut cross-network SMS rates.
The notice reiterated the instruction to cut these rates from 1 peso ($0.023) to 0.80 pesos, and demanded that operators compensate their customers for excess charges since the regulator gave its original order to cut SMS rates in 2011.
The NTC has estimated that the total refund costs would be 7 billion pesos (), in addition to regulatory penalties.