Converge ICT told to craft plan to address internet outrages

November 29, 2020 Metro BLISTT

The city legislators, in a resolution, urged Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. to formulate a technical and business plan to improve its internet services in the city. The council required the
internet service provider to submit the said plan within 20 days.
This, after Converge ICT subscribers expressed dissatisfaction about poor and intermittent internet connectivity they have experienced over the past days. Some residents also raised concern about the internet service provider ’s slow response to their application for an internet connection.
According to the council, Converge ICT must craft a technical and business plan that will serve as a tool for sustained quality internet services in the city in order to meet and satisfy their customers’ needs.
During the regular session on November 23, the council stressed that stable internet access has become an essential need under the new normal, thus, ISPs must improve the quality of their services.
Appearing before the council via teleconference, the Converge ICT representatives refuted the claim that the internet connection problems experienced by their customers stemmed from the company’s disengagement with Benguet Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BENECO).
Jan Meneses, Converge ICT Head of Business Center and Transition Group, explained that the outages were caused by a fiber cut in Tarlac which is currently affecting the internet connection in different places in Luzon.
Meneses assured that the company’s technical team is on the ground fixing the problem and that the target of completion is by the end of November. The subscribers will experience better  internet connectivity starting December, he said.
Michael Maquiran, Converge ICT National Consumer and SME Sales Head, likewise informed the council that the company is already preparing its network backbones to ensure that subscribers in different parts of Luzon including Benguet will still be serviced in case a fiber cut occurs again in Tarlac.
He said Benguet will be the convergent point of these network backbones.
Meanwhile, the Converge ICT representatives clarified that they did not terminate their business partnership contract with BENECO. They said the one-year contract lapsed in 2019, and was being renewed on a monthly basis. However in October 2020, Converge ICT opted to stop renewing the contract.
Maquiran explained that some business parameters were not met which led to the non-renewal of the business partnership contract with BENECO. He said the company shall modify the business model and offer three different contracts that best suit both parties to maximize the delivery of services to the subscribers. “Since we own the network and this is our core business, we are in a better position to discharge services and to serve the greater population of Benguet and specifically the good people of Baguio City,” Maquiran added.
In the same forum, Councilor Michael Lawana urged the officers of the company to instruct the personnel manning their new office in the city to entertain complaints concerning internet connection problems.
The city council, in a separate resolution, further requested Converge ICT to hire competent local personnel to ensure there is adequate manpower providing the subscribers quality internet services and addressing their concerns.
Jordan G. Habbiling/ABN