Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte said Sunday Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. must stop blaming the local government units for their failure to upgrade their services.
He says telecommunications companies should act now following President Rodrigo Duterte’s assurance that there would no longer be any red tape in the processing of applications for the rollout of their cell site towers.
He said the two telecom companies were just using the local government units as scapegoats.
“Their epic failure for years now in bringing up their services to world-class standards has been magnified at this time of the coronavirus pandemic, when superior internet connectivity would have greatly aided national efforts to switch right away to digital technology and online transactions," Villafuerte said.
“Back in 2017, I already called on these telco giants to provide better services and filed House Bill 1299 seeking to give consumers a venue to air their complaints against these errant firms.”
Villafuerte was referring to his proposal in the past Congress to require the National Telecommunications Commission to come up with a comprehensive and efficient system for subscribers to report their complaints of substandard services from their respective telco providers.
"I challenge these telcos to submit their applications for tower rollouts in Camarines Sur because I guarantee them that Governor Migz Villafuerte will process their permits in an expeditious manner," Villafuerte said.