Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday, May 26, called on the Department of Information Communication and Technology (DICT) to demand 3rd telco Dito Telecommunity to step up its services, after reports of consumer complaints about the telco’s “poor services.”
Hontiveros cited reports about netizens flooding Dito’s social media page with negative reviews, after the telco announced its pop-up shops around Metro Manila. The comments largely revolved around intermittent signal, incompatibility of SIM cards with many mobile phones, and slow Internet connection, among others.
The lawmaker reiterated that Dito committed to deliver 27 megabits per second Internet speed within the first year of operations. The telco also pledged to provide 55 Mbps of Internet speed that could reach 84% of the population within five years. Pres. Rodrigo Duterte also recently signed a 25-year franchise for Dito.
The senator said that the agency should forfeit the P25.7 billion performance bond if Dito fails to deliver on its promises.
“Dapat i-monitor ito ng DICT at igiit sa Dito na ayusin kaagad ang kanilang serbisyo. Masyado naman yata silang pinagbibigyan. If it cannot step up, the government can very well claim the billions of pesos in performance bond when we want. That money may be better off used for our health and economic needs in this pandemic,” Hontiveros said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said it’s high time that the Philippines joins the growing list of countries mandating the registration of pre-paid SIM cards to finally put to an end on the prevalence of scams and other forms of online deceptions.
As of March 2020, there were already 155 countries that require proof of identity of a person in purchasing a SIM card, Gatchalian said, citing data from UK-based Privacy International.
“Hangga’t walang batas na magpaparusa sa mga kawatan, hindi matatapos ang pambibiktima sa mga gumagawa ng trabaho nila nang marangal at umaasang may maiuwi sa kanilang pamilya,” the senator said.
Gatchalian was referring to the series of incidents involving scams committed on food delivery riders through online orders or bookings. Recent news reports showed that five riders received different orders via delivery app Foodpanda for the same address in Quezon City only to find out that it is an abandoned place.
Several other incidents have also been posted through various social media accounts. Last year, at least 10 riders delivered food amounting to P20,000 to a subdivision resident in Las Piñas City who claimed to have not placed any order through a food delivery app.
