Boycott: Txt-free day on Sept. 1
By Dennis C. Serfino

Consumer rights advocates are calling for a boycott of all cellular phone companies on Sept. 1 to protest the industry's decision to slash the free text allocations of subscribers.
"We're asking people not to use their cellphones and not to text on that day," Gerry Kaimo told Manila Standard yesterday.

Kaimo, the webmaster of the popular but controversial news satire site PLDT.com, said a campaign to get public support for the boycott has been launched through text messages and on the Internet. He acknowledged that the cellphone companies have the
right to cut the free text messages of their subscribers, but said the move is highly unfavorable to the already hard-up consumers.

"That's what I don't understand. The people are cash-strapped and then here come these cellphone companies crowing about their profits. They shouldn't make these announcements. They should say, 'We're so poor. We need your help. Instead they're saying, 'We made so much profit the first quarter. Now we're taking away
the free stuff," Kaimo explained. Bolstered by a dramatic growth in its subscriber base, Smart Communications reversed its financial situation from a loss of nearly P1.9 billion in the first half 2000 to a net income of P1.8 billion in the same period this year.

Rival Globe Telecom posted a net income of P2.55 billion during the first half of 2001, a 311-percent increase from the P621 million earned in the same period last year, due to the doubling of its cellular subscribers to 3.44 million as of June 30.