GRACE POE ON TELCOS:

Together with the rest of the country, I reiterate my call for better services from our telcos. Congress has done its part and we expect improvement with the same expediency that we had in waiving their permitting requirements.

I also support the President's request for a progress report from the telcos, and an assessment from the NTC as primary regulator. Not only are we keeping watch on the telcos but we are also monitoring the performance of the NTC. Both regulator and telcos must work double time to meet the demands of the new normal.

The Senate Committee on Public Services will continue to exercise its oversight power and demand a copy not just of the report but also of a plan with a definite timeline from both the NTC and the telcos.

Our December 7 hearing to discuss the franchise renewal of DITO is also an opportunity for the NTC to show the public how it has been doing its job during the ongoing pandemic. It should be able to show in concrete terms how it ensured compliance of telcos for ample bandwidth allocation and availability of service and signal to its subscribers.

This pandemic has shown us unprecedented demand. Better services must be delivered in the soonest possible time.