‘Technical glitch’ disrupts Globe, Smart services

MANILA, Philippines – Had a hard time calling or sending SMS this Wednesday morning, June 10?

Blame a technical glitch for the service interruption experienced by Smart and Globe subscribers.

The problem was identified as the facility physically connecting and jointly operated by the telco firms that caused the interconnection problem, Smart said.

Smart spokesperson Ramon Isberto said in an advisory that short messaging system (SMS) interconnection service with Globe was restored around 1 pm following the “technical difficulties” that started early morning Wednesday.

He apologized to the subscribers for any inconvenience caused by the temporary disruption.

But Globe Head of Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto blamed Smart for the service interruption that started as early as 2 am Wednesday.

“As early as 2 am, Globe customers may experience difficulty in calling, sending, and receiving messages to any Smart number nationwide due to an interconnection issue emanating from the Smart network,” Crisanto said in a separate advisory.

“The Globe network team is working closely with their counterparts to immediately resolve the service disruption,” she added.

Globe’s subscriber base increased 13% to 46.1 million in the first quarter of the year from 40.75 million in the same period last year. Its prepaid subscriber base jumped 13% to 43.83 million while postpaid subscribers rose 9% to 2.26 million from 2.09 million.

Smart of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) ended the first quarter of the year with 25.9 million subscribers. Including Sun Cellular and Talk N Text subscribers, the PLDT Group has a cellular subscriber base of 69.6 million in end-March this year.

Both telecommunication firms said they are investing more to further improve their respective networks this year.

PLDT is spending over P40 billion ($890.94 million) for its capital expenditures this year to bankroll extensive 3G and 4G roll-out across the country, as well as the expansion of its 114,000-kilometer of fiber-optic network nationwide.

Globe earmarked $650 million for its capital expenditures this year. It is also set to spend another $200 million from its capital expenditures allocation last year. – Rappler.com

$1 = P44.90

Woman holding a mobile phone image via Shutterstock