NTC to telcos: No 'unli' suspension during holidays

Making a pre-emptive move, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has issued two circulars ordering local telcos to keep their “unlimited” offerings during the crucial holiday season when mobile and Internet traffic is at its heaviest.



The NTC apparently released the directives to avoid a repeat of last year’s incident when the local operators suspended their bucket offerings during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Memorandum Order 9-11-2011, which was issued by the NTC on November 22, 2011, specifically provided mobile operators not to exclude December 23-26 and 30-31, 2011, as well as January 1-2 for their unlimited text and voice services.

On the other hand, Memorandum Order 9-11-2011 issued on November 23, also mandates the telcos to provide uninterrupted service on the same dates for their unlimited broadband access offerings.

The circulars also ordered the telcos to undertake the necessary network adjustments and maintenance to ensure that the networks are ready to accommodate the expected increase in traffic during the holiday season.

“Sufficient operation and maintenance personnel shall be deployed to ensure 99.9999-percent network reliability,” the memos said. — Newsbytes