By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
I noticed that the lawyers of Smart and Globe did not offer any defence when I described to the commissioners the current state of their services to the city’s users. That was in stark contrast to the behavior of Anthony Fernandez, Smart’s representative during the meeting at the Office of the Mayor in August 2016 on the complaint of the 47 Tabuk City Internet users against the two telcos. He flatly denied the accusation that Smart’s system in the city was overloaded but neither did he offer any explanation to the 100 Kbps speed we were getting from the company at that time.
At one point during the early part of the meeting, Deputy Commissioner Delilah Deles, upon learning that I am subscribed to the Plan 1299 of Globe, had commented that when they validate speeds in the city, my connection should have a speed of 10 Mbps, I quipped that they should come at midnight. I continued that it was very easy to prove the congestion of the system of Globe because in the small hours of the morning when most people in the city are asleep, the signal would achieve the advertised maximum speed. Casino did not react even if Cordoba used the word “congestion” in reference to the phenomenon.
Sometime later, as a means of preventing the recurrence of oversubscription, Daniel suggested the telcos should reveal their capacity and their current load to the public from time to time. In this connection, I informed that to get around the full line capacity of Tabuk City, the Globe’s sales agents would arrange with prospective subscribers in Tabuk City to install the connection in someone’s house in Tuguegarao City but for the modem to be brought home and be actually used in Tabuk City. I suggested that the telcos check the location of the modems from time to time to see if they are in the address of installation. As part of his reaction, Cordoba commented “doon kumakain ng bandwidth.” Casino did not say anything.
In turn, Dela Joya kept mum when near the end of the meeting while Cordoba reiterated the need for the two telcos to set up their offices in the city complete with customer service representative and technician, I informed the commission the current plight of Smart Internet users when it comes to having their stricken connections repaired. I said that the technicians of the company are based in Santiago City and they only allot two days in a month for subscribers in the city along with those in Paracelis, Mt. Province.
As to why I said Casino got Globe into deeper trouble during the meeting, when the issue of whether or not they have complied with Memorandum Circular No. 07-08-2015 specifically to the provision which mandates them to specify their average data connection rates per area, he quickly claimed Globe has. When I asked for the Globe data to prove its compliance, Casino backtracked and said that an NTC equipment is needed to actually measure the data and that we should wait for it before I could have the data I am asking for. Cordoba and Cabarios had said they did not compel the telcos to submit the data because the equipment for the validation of the same were still to be procured.
I regret it did not occur to me to note that Casino was being inconsistent.
When we came to the subject of the mandate for telcos to set the minimum speeds of their plans under Memorandum Order No. 07-07-2011, I cited the small print appearing in Globe’s online advertisement and flyers which states that its fiber optic plans have minimum speeds of 30 percent of the advertised and for its LTE and DSL plans, 256 Kbps. Casino commented those are the minimum requirements of the law.
Had I my wits around me at that point in the meeting, I would have asked Casino how could the very small print in the advertisement be compliance with the law when MO No. 07-07-2011 mandates that telcos should properly inform the public of the minimum speeds of their Internet services. Does hiding information in print that could hardly be read consists“proper information” to Globe? What I actually said was that such a minimum speed is ridiculous and one for the books and that’s specially so that the plan offers entertainment services including Netflix which their own online advertisements say requires 3 Mbps to be enjoyed.**
