Cellular operator Globe Telecom, which has taken flak in recent days due to its poor or lack of mobile signals in areas hardest hit by typhoon “Ondoy," said it expects to fully restore its mobile coverage late Tuesday night.
The company’s technicians are working overtime to re-establish cellphone signals in the eastern part of Metro Manila and Rizal province, particularly in the town of San Mateo, Caridad Gonzales, Globe’s head of corporate and regulatory affairs, said.
“Our cell site near Sta. Lucia went underwater during the flooding. This is one of the reasons that caused some of the outage because it’s a big cell site that also serves a big portion of that area," Gonzales said.
Repair was delayed due to the difficulty in reaching the site’s location.
The company brought new equipment and is now almost done fixing the facility, she said.
Other sites were damaged by Ondoy, Gonzales said but she was unable to identify them. However, she said these are now being repaired as well.
Other than those areas directly ravaged by the typhoon, Globe said its service coverage in Metro Manila is now back to normal.
Rival Smart, meanwhile, did not report any signal disturbance and even stressed that it was the only telco whose communication signal remained strong during the typhoon’s aftermath.
In a statement, Smart said set up free call centers at the Barangka Barangay Hall in Marikina City, Ever Gotesco Mall in Pasig City, and at the Cainta Municipal Hall to enable affected residents to make free calls.
An additional free calling facility will also be set up in San Mateo, Rizal.
In addition to free calls, charging of cell phones are also accommodated at the Smart Libreng Tawag centers, it added.
Globe has also put up similar free calling stations in the affected areas.
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