Agaton power cuts cause outage of telco services in Visayas

Power cuts caused by Tropical Depression Agaton (international name: Megi) have caused the outage in mobile services in several areas, telecommunications firms announced Monday.

Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. said call and text services were reported as of 9 a.m. on Monday, April 11, in 24 towns in Leyte, 16 in Southern Leyte, 10 in Bohol, and four in Cebu.

Data connection was also affected in 24 towns in Leyte, 15 in Southern Leyte, 10 in Bohol, and two in Cebu.

The company said its technical and support personnel are on call to immediately restore communication services as needed in the areas affected by inclement weather conditions.

Globe said it is also preparing free calls and charging stations in storm-hit areas, which will be deployed as soon as conditions improve.

“Globe stands ready to support and help its customers and local communities during times of disasters,” Globe chief sustainability officer and senior vice president for corporate communications Maria Yolanda Crisanto said in an emailed statement.

“Our service and technical teams will do what is necessary to keep our customers connected,” she continued.

For its part, Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. and its mobile subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. said they have already prepositioned personnel and mission-critical equipment in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

The group’s free calls and charging stations are also on standby and ready to be deployed once Agaton has passed.

Agaton weakened into a tropical depression on Monday, but Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal 1 remained hoisted in 11 areas including portions of Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Surigao del Norte, and the Dinagat Islands. — BM, GMA News