The House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed on third and final reading House Bill 87, which aims to ensure Filipinos get the full value of their paid internet services despite arbitrary expiration periods.
A total of 222 House members voted for the bill.
HB 87, or the Roll-Over Internet bill, mandates internet service providers to convert all unused and accumulated data of users into rebates that consumers may use for payment and other purposes, effectively extending the expiration period of purchased data.
Authors Cavite Reps. Ramon Jolo Revilla III and Lani Mercado-Revilla, along with Agimat Party-list Rep. Bryan Revilla, said the bill seeks to correct the “fundamentally unfair” situation where subscribers lose unused data within a set period.
“For postpaid users, this often means forfeiting paid but unused megabytes or gigabytes. For prepaid subscribers, it means repurchasing similar data promos just to maintain connection—often without maximizing their previous allocations,” they stated in the bill’s explanatory note.
They added that the measure “strengthens digital inclusion, especially for students, remote workers, small business owners, and families who are now more reliant than ever on online platforms.”
Under the bill, unused data from promo packages shall be rolled over and accumulated until the end of the year, provided the subscriber renews the subscription immediately after the offer expires.
Unused data lasting a year may also be converted into rebates for use in the succeeding year.
Subscribers who fail to renew within five days from the promo’s expiration will face a 20%reduction in their remaining data until the subscription is renewed.
After five days without renewal, all remaining unused data will be considered consumed.
