By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

This is in reaction to the recent press release of Globe Telecom announcing that its President and CEO, Ernest Cu, continues to be among the world’s most powerful telecom executives having landed in the Global Telecoms Business Power 100 for the fifth straight year in 2017. The press release was carried by the online editions of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin.
The question in my mind is how the alleged power of Cu is benefitting Filipino Internet users because in spite of that world class executive power he wields, the country continues to be a pitiful laggard when it comes to Internet services. Globe boasting of the recognition Cu obtained from Global Telecoms Business Power 100 is like the team members of the cellar dweller in a basketball tournament proclaiming to the world they have the best coach in the league.
In fact, that power in the hands of Cu just might be directed against the Filipino Internet user. The application of the power is not in the delivery of satisfactory service to the public but in maintaining the company’s interest over and above that of its clientele specifically in extracting more money from the public than the worth of the services Globe is actually delivering. The power is used to render disgusting service and getting away with it.
Just take my specific case. Because I was getting an average speed of less than 2 Mpbs from my Plan 1299 which contracted speed is 10 Mpbs and got different answers from the hotline and official Facebook and email accounts of Globe when I inquired about the minimum speed of my plan, I wrote Cu for an official statement on the issue on February 6, 2017. Despite my personally following up at the Globe Tower on March 2 where I was able to get Carol Rivera of their consumer welfare department receive a copy of the letter and of my slamming him in a letter to the editor published by a national daily, the letter remains unanswered to this day.
The issue of the minimum speeds of plans is of interest to the public because I am not the only Globe user getting less than half the contracted speed of his plan and due to the absence of an official statement of the company on the guaranteed minimum speed of its Internet plans, there is no way we could determine if we are getting our money’s worth or not.
One of the most powerful telco executives in the world and Cu is scared stiff to answer a very simple question which also happens to be very vital to the welfare of people his company is supposed to serve. Cu is a joke.
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I was furnished copies of communications regarding the Internet service of Globe in Tabuk City. One was the response of Globe to the memorandum of National Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba ordering the telco to submit to the commission the following data: number of broadband subscribers; maximum designed capacity of existing broadband facilities/infrastructure; and maximum capacity of the broadband facilities/infrastructure after the proposed upgrade. The last data is in reference to the commitment Smart and Globe made during the meeting with the NTC commissioners and representatives of the Internet users in Tabuk City on July 27.
In their response, Globe claimed they have 724 broadband subscribers in the city while the maximum designed capacity of their existing broadband facilities/infrastructure in the place is 774.
The other is the letter of Cordoba to the Globe informing the latter of the results of the speed testing in September stating that the connections of two of the eight volunteer subscribers exceeded 60 percent while the remainder fell below 60 percent and that the total average download speed was 37.66 percent of contracted speed using the Mscore , the official NTC testing software, and is 33.863 percent when the testing is done with Ookla. The team cited as one of the factors of the slow signal the congestion of the network which could be due to overselling or usage of equipment subscribed or bought in nearby places.
Citing the findings, Cordoba directed Globe “to undertake or implement enhancement of upgrade of facilities commensurate to the subscriber base of the area.”
If by “maximum designed capacity” Globe means that that’s the actual number of slots they could accommodate, then their claim contradicts the findings of the speed validation conducted by the NTC. At any rate, I wrote NTC Regulation Branch Director Imelda Walcien as follows: “I would like to know the company’s available bandwidth here so I can determine the allocations of the 724 subscribers. For us to be able to check the veracity of their claim, I also request the Commission to direct the company to provide the names of all their 724 subscribers including their corresponding plans.”
Although the NTC did not spell it out, it appears from the second letter that the commission takes 60 percent of the contracted speed as the acceptable speed. If the Globe is compliant, its bandwidth available for Tabuk City subscribers should at least be 724 times 60 percent of the total contracted speeds of the subscribers thus, the demand for also the plan of all the subscribers to be provided to us.
But remember what I wrote before that during the exit conference, the NTC team and the representatives of the telcos had cited 70 percent of the contracted speed as the acceptable speed but later in the meeting, would claim that the minimum speed should be 256 Kbps? I would not be surprised therefore if the maximum bandwidth capacity of the infrastructure of Globe in the city is 724 multiplied by the preposterous 256 Kbps.
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The NTC technical team along with their counterparts from Globe and Smart will come for the second speed testing activity on October 19 and 20. I will take the opportunity to ask the Globe engineers their explanation as to how come starting afternoon of October 11, I have been getting an average of 8 Mbps for my 10 Mbps plan round the clock. That’s because it appears that the sudden good fortune —— I have been averaging less than 3 Mpbs during daytime previously — is not shared by other subscribers in the city.**