|
THE
Philippines’ largest telecommunications company has
delayed its planned upgrade to its New Generation
Network (NGN)—which, like the Internet, transmits voice,
data and video in packets—while it addresses congestion
issues within its current system.
The
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) told the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that it is
currently decommissioning switches and/or facilities to
reduce the load on their congested trunks. As a result,
subscribers of Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayan) and
Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T) have been
unable to call up PLDT numbers.
“Internal network congestion being experienced by PLDT
and not call restriction are the causes of
inaccessibility issues experienced by carriers connected
to network of PLDT,” said the company.
In
December last year, PLDT said it tapped British Telecom
(BT) to assist the company in its transformation to a
new generation communications company.
“We have
actually engaged with the advisory group of British
Telecom to help us plan the transition on NGN,” said
PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan.
A study
is being drafted to determine how long the migration
from a so-called legacy system to an NGN will take
place.
Pangilinan said PLDT wants to learn from the experiences
of BT, one of the world’s leading providers of
communications solutions and services operating in 170
countries.
BT is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc, and encompasses
virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT
Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in
London
and New York.
Earlier,
PLDT, a former monopoly, was accused by PT&T of
unilaterally blocking voice calls coming from the
latter’s network.
PT&T had
already asked the NTC to prevent PLDT from blocking all
traffic from PT&T to PLDT subscribers in the “02” local
exchange calling area.
According to PT&T, a cease and desist order should be
issued against PLDT because the constriction has greatly
affected the efficiency of the telecommunications
services that PT&T provides to its subscribers.
Previously, outgoing calls from PT&T to PLDT were
successfully connected nine out of ten times, PT&T said.
Currently, only one such call out of ten is successful.
But the
telecommunications giant defended itself from the
unfounded claim of ‘traffic restriction’ raised by PT&T.
It
pointed out that the network and facilities upgrade
being undertaken in Metro Manila resulted in internal
network congestion.
“The
problem on network inaccessibility experienced by PT&T
was also being experienced by Bayan who brought the
matter to the attention of PLDT,” said PLDT.
Bayan
said the so-called inaccessibility problem is causing
great inconvenience to the public. The call completion
rate (CCR) between Bayan and PLDT has dropped to as low
as 18 percent from an average of about 60 percent.
In the
Quezon City area, the CCR has gone down to 17.91 percent
during mid-January this year. In Las Piñas, the CCR went
down to 18 percent in the same period. Bayan monitored a
CCR of 33 percent in Sampaloc, Manila.
A
coordinated effort of both Bayan and PLDT to address the
accessibility issue has confirmed congestion in the
latter’s network.
PLDT
said the network congestion is now being remedied.
“Taking
into consideration PLDT’s load balancing activity
certain dates were set for Makati, Las Piñas and
Sampaloc,” it said, adding that the company has also
re-activated the trunks upon receiving Bayan’s
complaints. |
