City urges network firms to up signals in hilly barangays

THE Cebu City Government is calling telecommunications companies to a meeting to find ways to solve the weak network signals in the mountain barangays.

Councilor Jerry Guardo, chair of the communications and other utilities committee, who was tasked by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to take the lead in the meeting, said they received positive feedback from the companies.

“Upon the order of the mayor, I called on representatives from Globe, Smart and Sun to give us an update, especially on the network signals in the mountain barangays,” said Guardo.

The councilor said the mayor himself experienced the difficulty in communicating from the mountain barangays to the city and to other areas.

The mayor earlier warned that if the network providers couldn’t eliminate dead spots in the mountains, he would no longer allow new cell sites in the city.

Guardo said Smart Communications has 21 pending cell site applications and they want to know where it intends to install them in the city.

He said he also received reports that there also spots in the city that have weak signals, although as of now, some providers are trying to address these.

He assured that the City Government will cooperate with the network providers in facilitating their applications if only to eliminate dead spots in Cebu City, especially in the mountain barangays.

Today, the network providers will submit a report on their number of cell sites, their pending applications and their identification of areas with weak signals. (PAC)