Globe set to sell notes worth P5b

Globe Telecom Inc., the telecom unit of Ayala Corp., plans to issue P3 billion to P5 billion in five-year notes this month, banking sources said.

Manilastandardtoday February 5, 2009

Broadband DSL Rants and Raves

The blog writer writes, I've had 3 different DSL Service Providers in the past 4 years. I want to take this opportunity to give an objective and unbiased review on the experiences I've had with all 3. Hopefully this will help you guys when you make your decision to get your own broadband, be it for gaming, e-mail, downloading, or surfing. For this article, I'll write about my experiences
with Bayantel DSL, SMART Bro, and PLDT MyDSL.

Click the title of article above to read the complete blog writers comments at .Walkster blog 7/1/09

PLDT/Globe/SUN/Banyantel should read the many comments on this blog if they
want to solve some service problems wow.

Some of the comments follow including mine:

Jane Says: My rants with PLDT DSL warrant its own blog post sa haba. To think that I was one of their oldest subscribers -had the old P2,500 plan and got speeds less than 512kbps for the longest time. To cut the long story short, I reached my saturation point and had my DSL cut and moved to another carrier. I should have done that a long, long time ago

7/2/09 comment Pldt = as stated above worst customer service but probably has the best connection almost no downtimes, consistent speeds, doesnt seem to have peak hours etc..

7/3/09 comment I've had experience in both PLDT and Globe Customer service.
while both are bad.. let's just say I wish I had not chosen Globe.

7/4/09 comment guys, you better try sun broadband wireless.actually it's offered intially in metro manila & some parts of cavite.the connection is fast plus the service is unlimited for only Php799/month but if you already have a postpaid plan with suncellular you can bundle it with the broadband by adding php649 only per month ;)

7/7/09 comment PLDT sucks bigtime super!! Got my DSL Feb 2008 and HAVEN'T
received any billing statement to this date EVER!!

7/9/09 comment Try going to any PLDT office. See those employees feeling like they're bank tellers. Tayo dito tayo doon. LOL When it's your turn for the complain."Sir we're very sorry but ". Expect a very very frustrating day. But when it comes to payments, OH MY GOD! They will even sue you for not paying the bills on time. LOL

My comment: Globe bills online only show one month and you must already know the amount to access that even! SMART at least has three months billing available online.

And SMART bills are always late, I wonder why they even waste the money on a carrier (and printing envelopes and paper costing almost a million dollars a year I am sure?) when they just bought Meralco that does a wonderful job of emailing a bill to customers every month and makes the customer so happy as a result where he can pay ontime! Maybe PLDT and SMART should learn some things from Meralco hehe now that they own part of it.

My experience with SMART Bro has been excellent in Cebu but I am near the cell tower. In Manila, it has varied greatly sometimes average and sometimes never so slow I give up They have three different websites for emails, viewing your bills, and signing into your account all with separate logins, and passwords so complicated, its worse than bank passwords. And I wonder why they make customers sign into three separate sites for email, billing, and internet account instead of being under one login? And even yahoo logins are simpler passwords, make it simple someone once said but SMART doesnt seem to take this view in this case at least!

And Globe DSL has a built in auto disconnect every hour which disrupts your browsing and surfing, and disconnects your yahoo and downloads. Seems they should eliminate this as many blogs complain about the constant disconnects for Globe DSL! Or are they even interested in customer satisfaction hehe? But I am sure since many stock analysts and stockholders may read this, maybe they should be interested!

Telcos hit proposal to regulate deals with content providers

TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS are opposing a move by regulators to fix
revenue-sharing with third-party content providers, adding to the simmering
dispute over the government's decision to tighten industry rules. Click the title of article above to read the complete article at 7/10/09
Manila Times

Phone firms balk at order to extend prepaid loads

LEADING mobile phone service providers yesterday refused to commit to
following government orders extending the validity of their prepaid credits.

Senator Mar Roxas, chairman of the committee on trade and commerce, said the
order to lengthen the validity of the prepaid load was too late and not
enough to address consumer demand for a fair and equitable deal from the
carriers. Click the title of article above to read the complete article at 7/9/09 Manila Standard

‘Star Wars’: Wi-Fi vs WiMax in Zambo

Internet in schools

Globe’s service is part of its Internet-in-Schools-Program (ISP). Under the program, Globe will “provide free Internet for one year to serviceable public schools all over the country.” Those schools are serviced by the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM), a unit of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Five other public schools in Zamboanga—J-Jireh School, Southcom National High School, Sinunuc ElementarySchool, Zamboanga City High School main campus and the Sinunuc National High School—will also receive free WiMax connection for a year, making them the first WiMax-connected schools in the Philippines.

Ticket to cyber highway

For Jojie Ilagan-Bian, president of the Philippine Call Center Alliance, WiMax is Zamboanga’s ticket to the cyber highway. Both Wi-Fi and WiMax can be used for wireless networking, but the latter is designed to allow higher data rates over longer distances. For example, a person using WiMax can stream videos and download a movie file at the same time. WiMax provides broadband wireless access of up to 50 kilometers for fixed stations, and 5 km to 15 km for mobile stations. In contrast, Wi-Fi is usually limited to only 100 meters.

“By investing heavily in expanding its information and communications services, Globe has not only expressed its confidence in the future of this city and this region, but has helped to create conditions under which other companies will be attracted to the city,” Bian said.

Globe’s Disuanco said the telco plans to open four more WiMax sites in the region.
“It is Globe’s aim that every home in Zamboanga be connected to the Internet,” he said. According to Hoyle Disuanco, head of Globe’s consumer sales for Visayas and Mindanao, the telco has already established WiMax connections in 15 communities in Zamboanga. Click the title of article above to read the complete article at 9/12/09 Philippine Inquirer

Telcos not ready to comply with NTC on extended expiry of vanishing load

TELECOMMUNICATIONS company executives indicated on Wednesday they are not yet ready to comply with Senate-initiated circulars issued by National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) extending the expiry dates of “vanishing” prepaid cellular-phone load and the ban on spam messages sent by telcos’ content providers to their subscribers.
“Of course, we were surprised. We are still trying to digest the impact of [the NTC circulars]. We would like to digest first the circulars and assess our options,” Smart Communications manager Roy Ibay told reporters after attending a Senate technical working group (TWG) meeting with other telco executives on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a legislator proposed on Wednesday that the NTC require mobile-phone firms to issue a “billing statement” through SMS or text messaging for every worth of cell-phone load consumed. Party-list Rep. Florencio Noel of An-Waray said that with this, cell- phone users would be informed on how their load was consumed and ensure transparency between the pre-paid subscribers and the cell-phone companies. “One possible way of holding cellular-telephone companies accountable for stolen loads would be to mandate them to issue ‘billing statement’,” Noel said

Also, he said that “text billing,” which should be sent free of charge, would be automatically generated when there’s only P5 worth of load remaining.

“But if they could monitor how much is your account balance or know if you have exceeded the ‘consumption date’, they could easily set up a system that would track down the volume and price of text messages and voice calls made,” he said.
7/9/09 `Business Mirror Read the complete article by clicking the headline above

WiMax in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Globe Telecom, Inc. launched on Monday its Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMax Internet service in this city, paving the way for business process outsourcing investments. Hoyle Raul E. Disuanco, Globe’s sales head for the Visayas and Mindanao, said at least 15 WiMax sites have been established and another four are the pipeline. Mayor Celso L. Lobregat said the WiMax would boost the city’s bid to become a hub for information and communications technology. Mr. Disuanco said WiMax is designed to enable the deployment of "fourth generation" wireless broadband access as a cost-efficient alternative to cable connections or and DSL, or digital service line. Mr. Disuanco claimed Globe Telecom’s entry-level WiMax plan is up to 33% faster and 25% more affordable than those offered by rival wireless broadband providers.

7/7/09 Bussiness World Click the bold title above to read the complete article

USAID Aids WiMAX Growth In Philippine Schools

Globe Telecom and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have joined together in order to bring advanced Internet and computer education to the youth of Mindanao, an island in the Philippines. The USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) will provide WiMAX connections to six public schools in Zamboanga City, the third largest country in the Philippines. 6 July 2009 Blog Quantumwimax Click the bold title above to read the complete article

Globe reorganizes sales, marketing units

Industry observers say Globe needs to shift gears up in order to better compete with rivals. Coming up with more products and service offerings such as the Globe Duo and WiMax may not be enough to cope up with competition especially during tough times when consumer wallet is shrinking. “In other words, they have to deliver and generate more revenues or they will continue to be left behind,” said the sources.

Of late, Globe has been experiencing network glitches. The problem, the company claimed, is limited only to the 3G (third-generation) service that affected some parts of Makati, Manila and Pasay.

Irate Globe subscribers complained of difficulty in making calls, sharing load credits and delays in text messaging service.

Globe also relaunched its fully mobile broadband service branded as Globe Broadband Tattoo but some subscribers still complained of slow Internet connection.

My comment: Their DSL service has a terrible problem built in! It is programmed to disconnect your service at least every hour and then reconnecting, making downloads, yahoo chat, etc cut off, such an inconvenience. They should make their service more reliable and do a major shakeup to achieve customer satisfaction! The costs are reasonable for dsl but many online newsgroups complain about his auto disconnect problem!

Click here to read complete article July 2, 2009 Business Mirror

How not to be No. 1

IT’S no secret that Globe Telecom Inc. wants to be number one. (read article mid column in link)

Then and now, Globe has always had problems with its after-sales service—or follow-up care for loyal customers needs to be given priority, a reform one hopes would be part of the improvements now ongoing under Mr. Cu’s helm.

Consider the Globe DSL subscribers in Mandaluyong, San Juan, and Pasig. Since mid-June, they’ve had intermittent service due to system repairs and nobody in Globe seems to know when these repairs will be completed.

Worse, Globe’s monthly billings do not reflect the interrupted service (read: subscribers are charged the same monthly amount regardless of service disruption).

The worst part is the vaunted hotline. More often than not, it’s a computer-generated message that answers the caller. If an irate subscriber does finally get in touch with another person (and has not banged the phone after listening endlessly to the company jingle), some 15 minutes plus have passed, enough to order a take-out burger meal and have it delivered.

Hey, don’t take my word for it. Maybe Globe executives could check out the hotline, using a pay phone instead of their executive phones. Maybe, they should check how many days in June Globe was actually servicing subscribers in Mandaluyong, San Juan, and Pasig and then check whether, as a responsible company, it deducted from the aggravated subscribers’ monthly billings the periods of disruption (read: no deductions so far).
Click here to read complete article 7/6/09 Business Mirror