Prepaid credits of mobile phones – popularly known as “load” – will now have longer expiration dates after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued new rules on Friday. Under Memorandum Circular No. 03-07-2009, loads with higher values will have longer expiration or validity periods. Credits worth P10 or lower will be valid for three days from the previous one-day expiration. Loads more than P10 up to P50 can be used for 15 days while credits worth more than P50 up to P100 will remain valid for 30 days. Loads more than P100 to P150 will expire at the end of 45 days while credits of more than P150 to P250 will last for 60 days. More than P250 to P300 will remain valid for 75 days while credits worth more than P300 will last for 120 days.These new rules will take effect 15 days after publication in newspapers. Currently, a P10 load is only valid for a day while a P30 load can be used within three days. A P200 load will last for 30 days and P300 worth of credits can last for 60 days. The credits’ validity will start upon confirmation receipt of prepaid load purchased, the NTC said. Newly-purchased credits will be added to unused loads, thereby extending the validity of the total loads. If a subscriber with an unused load of P20 buys P10 worth of new credits, the new validity period is 15 days. Accessing balance inquiry services through text messaging should be free of charge, the NTC said.
