Palace: Telcos to report on service improvement on Dec. 8

MANILA, Philippines — Telecommunication companies will make a progress report to the public on Tuesday, Dec. 8, in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s demand to improve their services by December.

According to the presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, representatives from Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, as well as the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), will grace his regular Malacañang press briefing to report what has been done to improve connectivity.

It will be recalled that the Palace official has urgedd the two firms to submit to Malacañang a list of the new cell sites they have built to comply with Duterte’s order.

Meanwhile, the third telco firm Dito Telecom will also participate in the briefing to update its rollout.

“Lahat sila nag-uunahang magbigay ng eksplanasyon. Pero nagkaroon po kami ng kasunduan (They all wanted to go first to provide an explanation. But we had an agreement), the Tuesday briefing will be exclusively on telcos. So we will have the telcos, all three of them and the NTC on Tuesday,” Roque said.

During his State of the Nation Address in July, Duterte warned Globe and Smart to shape up by December or face expropriation. [ac]