Consumer group scores telco over service outage

Globe Telecom should compensate consumers affected by the mobile service interruptions that hit Visayas and Mindanao on Monday, consumer group TXTPower said on May 10. “Perhaps Globe should provide its subscribers a one-time rebate or discount for the inconvenience caused by the fiber cut incident," TXTPower president Tonyo Cruz said in a statement. On May 9, Globe subscribers in Visayas and Mindanao experienced service interruptions that prevented them from sending text messages, making calls, and surfing the Internet because of a severed fiber optic cable. Parts of Luzon could have also been affected, said a company spokesperson on GMA News TV’s “On Call" newscast. Cruz explained, “The least Globe could have done is to quickly provide information on its network problems through social media, TV, radio, and print." Cruz added that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should investigate the issue “to make sure that everything would soon be back to normal." Cruz also called on the NTC to look into possible problems like oversubscription and insufficient or zero back-ups. — TJD, GMA News