MANILA : The Philippines’ two biggest telecommunications companies PLDT Inc and Globe Telecom Inc have separately accused new entrant DITO Telecommunity Corp of "fraudulent” calls made through its network, heightening a public disagreement.

Globe, in a statement Tuesday (Aug 9), said it has asked the telecommunications regulator to require DITO to pay 622 million pesos (US$11.2 million) in penalties over alleged violations of interconnect rules. Globe said DITO’s network supposedly allowed a daily average of 1,000 calls that were "identified as international in origin but masked as local calls.”

PLDT unit Smart Communications also made similar allegations, saying in a separate statement Tuesday that DITO "has failed to prevent its network from being misused for fraud.”

Smart said it has incurred "huge monetary losses” as DITO SIM cards were supposedly "masking international calls as domestic.”

Responding to Globe’s allegations, DITO said in a statement sent Wednesday that the calls were "made by third parties,” and that it’s "equally a victim of such calls.”

It also said it has undertaken steps to minimise them. A DITO representative didn’t immediately respond to mobile-phone messages seeking comment about Smart’s statement.

DITO earlier this week filed complaints against Globe and Smart before the antitrust body for "possible anti-competitive practice in their interconnection agreements.”

Globe and Smart have separately said they continue to honour interconnection deals with DITO.

  - Bloomberg