President Rodrigo Duterte in his SONA on Monday warned telecommunication companies over the poor service they provide.
“People are reaching their limit, and I will be the one to articulate the anger of the Filipino people. And you might not want what I intend to do with you. And you might not want what I intend to do with you,” President Duterte cautioned.
“If you are not ready to improve… I might as well close all of you and we revert back to the line telephone, at kukunin ko ‘yan, i-expropriate ko sa gobyerno (and I will take it back and expropriate it to the government). Kindly improve the services before December,” he added.
Following the warning of the President Duterte, Globe President and Executive Director Ernest Cu released a statement, taking on the challenge of the President.
“We heed the call of the president to improve telco services. This year, globe earmarked USD 1.2 billion in capex, most of which goes to network and capacity builds. These substantial investments are paying off as we experience marked service improvements. In fact, we are being cited globally for having improved internet experience,” Cu said.
Smart Communications has yet to react while Dito Telecommunity or Mislatel promised to speed up internet connection of its customers until 2021.
Meanwhile, the DICT said it would find another player that can provide affordable and fast service in case the two companies fail in this aspect. – Report from Cleizl Pardilla
