The country’s two largest telecom companies said they restored their services in the northern parts of Luzon a day after Typhoon Ompong struck the region.
Globe said its cell sites in Apayao, Ilocos Norte and Cagayan, except for the town of Baggao, were fully restored, providing customers critical telecommunications services during the period of recovery.
Globe said it expected to restore network coverage in Baggao town in Cagayan, once fallen trees and toppled electric posts were cleared out. Baggao suffered the most damage from Typhoon Ompong, according to the Department of Defense.
Widespread commercial power outages and multiple fiber cuts following strong winds brought about by Typhoon Ompong caused service disruptions in Cagayan, Apayao, Abra and Ilocos Norte.
“We want to assure our customers that Globe is exerting all means possible to immediately restore telecommunications services in areas adversely affected by Typhoon Ompong,” Peter Tan, head of operations, network technical group at Globe said.
“We are expecting full restoration of services in affected areas within the day depending on the availability of commercial power,” he said.
PLDT said its service availability in Northern and Central Luzon were restored to over 90 percent.
The company’s fixed and wireless network restoration efforts are mostly focused on the hardest hit areas of Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga, Benguet and Mountain Province where transport conditions remained difficult because of landslides, damaged roadways and bridges, and widespread power outages.
“We continue to work with local governments and disaster response agencies to gain access to these areas,” PLDT said.