TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has formalized the agreements made during its July 27 meeting with Smart Communications (Smart) and Globe Telecom (Globe) and representatives of Internet users of this city through three memos to the two telcos.
The first memoranda directs the two telcos to submit the following data on or before August 11: number of their fixed and fixed wireless subscribers, maximum designed capacity of their existing broadband infrastructure in the city; and maximum capacity of their broadband facilities after their proposed upgrade.
“It is understood that the proposed upgrade of broadband facilities will take into consideration the population of Tabuk City,” the memorandum said.
The second memorandum directed the telcos to establish offices in the city which will be manned by “appropriate number of service technicians and customer representatives.”
During the July 27 meeting, it was found out that the complaints and other concerns of subscribers in Tabuk City are being addressed by the branches of the telcos in Tuguegarao City.
The users revealed that in the case of Smart, it’s technicians who are based in Santiago City only attend to stricken connections in the city two days a month within which they also cover Paracelis, Mtn. Province, an arrangement, which the users said, results in long delays in the repair of connections of as much as four months at times.
The third memorandum reminded the two telcos of decision made during the July 27 meeting for the conduct of test/validation of their broadband speeds in the city on a monthly basis from August to November
A team from the NTC and its regional offices in the Cordillera and Cagayan will conduct the validation in the presence of representatives of the users, the Tabuk City LGU and the two telcos.
Internet users here have been up in arms against what they call “stinking” Internet services in the city starting in late 2015 and have recently requested both houses of Congress to investigate the “utter lack of intention and will” of the current leadership of the NTC “to see to it that the populace be provided with decent Internet services and to protect their right to enjoy the same, a responsibility contained in the agency’s Statement of Mission.”**By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
