Telcos told: Improve signal quality in Cebu City

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has asked telecommunication companies to improve their services following increasing complaints from consumers on poor signal quality.

In an executive session yesterday, Oct. 16, 2024, the council tackled the resolution sponsored by Councilor Nestor Archival Sr. to look into the issue of inadequate signal quality provided by the local telecommunication companies amid the constant rise of subscription payments.

However, Patrick Gloria, vice president for External Affairs of Globe Telecom, said that Telcos are continuously building sites to cater to the cellular and wifi signals.

According to Gloria, this has been their effort every year in coordination with tower companies.

"While we do that, let me just put it out there that it is definitely never perfect because of two things, one is the clamor of the customer for more data and second, the technology always changes," said Gloria.

On the other hand, Gloria acknowledged that there are areas, especially in the province, that still have "gaps" in terms of signal. Among the reasons, he said, are the lack of cell sites either by choice or rejected by the barangay; constructions that often block signals; and the need for education to explore the technologies.

But Archival said that the inadequate signal may be due to the continuing acceptance of subscribers leading to a weight that the telco company can no longer handle.

However, Gloria said they have a hundred cell sites in the city that can accommodate to more than a thousand cellular phones in each site.

Sharing his personal experience, Archival said that there are times when his subscription plan has a fixed amount of P5,000, and yet he pays up to P12,000.

To Gloria though, this may be due to the usage of data. He said this may be addressed in identifying how the plan is being utilized.

But Archival said this complaint is not just from him, as he further mentioned other concerns like the charges on calls.

"It's not only me nga nag complain...I don't believe nga when you say nga when the calls are cut and then you call again, it's not being charged, I don't believe that I'm sorry," said Archival.

Gloria further said that their principle is to return the services paid should a customer be satisfied, which he added most people don't know of.

Archival, however, said that before, the problem of having the network signal cut off did not surface. With this, he added that the telco companies should find ways in order to come up with more "balanced" services.

For Smart Communications, Anthony Fernandez, senior manager, said there has been a "paradigm shift" in the usage of telecommunications considering that cellular calls are no longer widely used the same as data consumption. He added that they are now preparing to widen their accommodation in more data consumption.

But he assured that they are also conducting a campaign to educate more retailers and consumers to have a wiser telecommunication consumption without much of a disruption.

"Sometimes hindi na po napapansin ng customers natin that technology is evolving, phones are evolving, ang naiwan nalang ang tao," said Fernandez.

At the end of the discussion, the council urged the telco representatives to improve their services, particularly on delivering more adequate network signals. — /ATO (FREEMAN)