Typhoon Lawin: Telco services down in parts of Northern Luzon

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MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Strong winds from Typhoon Lawin (Haima) early Thursday, October 20, disrupted the service operations of Globe Telecom Incorporated and PLDT Incorporated in some parts of Northern Luzon.

Globe said in a statement that there are voice, call, and data service disruptions in selected areas in Abra, Cagayan, Kalinga, as well as parts of Ilocos Norte and Apayao.

“225-kph strong winds from Typhoon Lawin resulted in commercial power interruption, multiple fiber cuts, and service disruption in parts of Northern Luzon,” the Ayala-led telco said.

PLDT’s subsidiary Smart Communications said its services were most severely affected in the provinces directly in the path of the storm — Cagayan, Isabela, Benguet,  Ifugao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

But as of Thursday, October 20 at 10:00 am, Smart reported that its mobile phone services were available in 80% of the cities and municipalities of North and Central Luzon.

Globe said customers in these areas will temporarily experience difficulty in accessing communications services. (READ: Flight cancellations due to Typhoon Lawin)

“PAGASA has donwngraded Lawin from super typhoon to typhoon level, offering opportunities for early restoration of Globe services. Network redundancies were activated to alleviate the impact of service disruptions to customers,” Globe senior vice president for corporate communications Yoly Crisanto said.

Globe’s technical teams have already been deployed to restore damaged facilities.

“In the meantime, Globe is also in close coordination with government agencies to deploy relief operations in areas affected by the typhoon. Further advisories will be released to update customers on the restoration of various services,” Crisanto added.

For Smart, it said its engineers and technicians are “working ’round the clock to restore wireless communications services in these affected areas.”

“No significant damage to Smart’s network infrastructure has been reported so far.  However, power outages are hampering the restoration of services,” PLDT spokesperson Ramon Isberto said in a statement. – Rappler.com