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Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Delays in Globe texts ‘temporary’ - official
Globe Telecom is assuring subscribers that delays in the receipt of text messages are caused by several factors, all of which are temporary.
Globe public relations head Jones Campos said text messages may be delayed when a certain subscriber gets several messages at the same time.
Delays may also occur during peak periods of text messaging and when there is heavy traffic of messages via SMS (short messaging system) in a certain area at a certain time.
Heavy traffic of text messages in a certain area at one time can cause delays as several users will be using a specific cell site, Campos said.
Traffic
He pointed out that traffic is bound to become heavy when almost 35 million cellular phone users—the approximate total number of subscribers of all mobile phone companies, Globe, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular—send SMS messages around the same time.
“But the network will manage it,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview last Monday.
Campos said another factor that contributes to the delays may be Globe’s ongoing program to optimize and upgrade its network, both for second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) technologies.
“There are inter-ruptions…but by and large, we have not seen any network trouble,” he said.
“(Of course,) there are also delays caused by bad weather and when a subscriber is in a blind spot (an area not covered by network signal),” he said.
Report
If delays occur more often, Campos advised subscribers to call Globe’s customer hotline and report the problem.
“They will have to call 211 to report it,” he said, adding that Globe may not be aware of specific situations in certain areas that affect the network.
Campos said factors that caused the delays are only temporary.
He assured that Globe’s network is still able to accommodate its growing subscriber base.
He said the company’s network is only about 75 percent utilized.
In a stockholders’ meet-ing this year, Globe said it has over 12.4 million subscribers, which is expected to grow further as the firm tries to increase its subscriber base in provincial areas.
Smart was reported to have over 20 million subscribers early this year.
Service
Globe has over 5,000 cell sites, which serve not only Globe subscribers but also those registered with Touch Mobile.
During its stockholders’ meeting last April, Globe Telecom president Gerardo Ablaza Jr. said the mobile phone company has stopped its SIM-swap program to preserve the quality of its service.
The program offered subscribers of rival mobile phone companies to transfer to Globe by buying a Globe SIM (subscriber’s identification module) at a discount.
“It did not result in good quality service,” Ablaza had said during a press conference following the meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati. (LAP)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 20, 2006 issue)
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