NTC cracks down on illegal repeaters

MANILA, Philippines - Cellphone subscribers in Binangonan, Rizal who used to experience weak signal and much slower Internet connection can now breathe a sigh of relief with the recent move by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to ban the use of unregistered repeaters.

NTC has issued Memorandum Order 01-02-2013 laying down the guidelines prohibiting the sale, purchase, importation, possession or use of cellular mobile repeaters and portable cellsites operating on 800 megahertz, 900 MHz 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz frequency bands.

The order was in response to various complaints on signal interference brought to the NTC’s attention by telecom companies. 

One of the cases was that of a Binangonan businessman who was using an illegal repeater to boost the signal for his trucking and warehouse business. 

Since the businessman’s residence is in front of a Globe Telecom cellsite, the device unintentionally interfered with the signal being emitted by the cellsite, resulting in poor reception for all other subscribers intended to be served by the cellsite.

By complying with the NTC order for such devices to be registered with the regulatory body, the repeater would basically be given a separate highway from that of other telecom providers to avoid interference.

Repeaters are not actually prohibited in the country as long as they are properly registered, regulated and installed in close coordination with mobile phone operators which will be able to assist in calibrating these devices to ensure that they are confined within a specific area and do not interfere with cellsites and cause problems to other subscribers.

Most of the time, whenever there is poor cellphone reception or if dropped call occurs, subscribers blame it on the carrier or service provider. However, the situation could also be unwittingly caused by a next-door neighbor using an illegal repeater.

Illegal repeaters come in the form of indoor and outdoor antennas and wireless adapters meant to boost signal inside a home or building. However, rampant, uncontrolled and improper use of these devices give mobile phone operators in the country a huge headache. 

While nobody wants a weak mobile phone signal, using devices to boost signal coverage can result in a lot of damage and trouble to other parties.

However, these devices are usually not properly installed and often use low quality components that generate spurious radio signals and cause network interference, leaving subscribers in the area with very weak, if not non-existent mobile reception.

These illegal repeaters are also not calibrated or tuned to the right frequency or the right settings (e.g. power), thus interfering with legitimate and good signals adjacent to them. 

Meanwhile, since mobile phones send and receive signals via radio frequency (RF) communication that broadcasts through the air, various natural and man-made obstacles can disrupt, block or interfere with signal transmission and quality.

To address the problem, telecom companies have to install properly designed in-building coverage solutions consisting of very low power distributed antenna systems.   However, to do so, they must seek permission of the building owners and tenants. Only when such permission is granted can they address weak signal issues inside buildings.