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Do your calls always get blocked?
It could be because the country's top mobile service providers have failed to meet government-imposed standards on quality of service, a National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) report on Wednesday said.
Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. both failed to hit the 4 percent benchmark in terms of grade of service, which refers to the percentage of calls that were not given access by the network.
Globe posted a grade of service of 4.45 percent, while Smart's score was at 9.95 percent.
"Though both of them did not pass the standard for Grade of Service which is at 4 percent, Globe Telecom's performance has an edge over Smart Communication on this area," the NTC said.
Both companies were within standards in all other items, with Smart outperforming its Ayala-led rival.
Dropped call rates for Smart was recorded at 1.53 percent versus Globe's 1.66 percent, both falling within the 2-percent minimum.
Average signal received by Smart subscribers, meanwhile, was -62.63 dBM compared to Globe's -63.83dBM. The minimum signal is -85 dBm.
For average signal quality, which measure voice transmission during calls, is meanwhile pegged at 0.63 points for Smart and 0.72 points for Globe.
Both are within the zero to 4-point range, wherein zero means no transmission error.
The two telco firms are also within the call set-up time limit of 14 seconds, which is the acceptable time from the time of dialing to the time of the first ring.
The Pangilinan-led Smart posted a score of 11.74 seconds compared to Globe's 11.9 seconds.
"The NTC has already called the attention of both telcos regarding these results," the regulator said.
Globe said they it is "implementing an expansion and network upgrade" while Smart noted that it is "continuously rehabilitating" its network, NTC said.
The regulator also noted that it has mandated the firms to make ongoing efforts to improve their services."
"The NTC also required the telcos to give a detailed report of these improvements on a per area basis including date of completion per area," the state agency said.
The benchmarking was conducted through over 1,500 calls in the Globe and Smart networks during the last week of April, May and June.
The Philippines vowed Thursday to fight China "to the last man standing", as a Chinese warship patrolled around a remote reef occupied by a handful of Filipino marines in disputed waters.
