Globe back to normal in Mindanao

Globe Telecom announced yesterday it has brought a ‘‘semblance of normalcy’’ to the typhoon-battered provinces in Mindanao with the restoration of its text, call, and data services.

In just a few days, Globe Telecom facilities ravaged by floods and mudslides were restored, the leading telecommunications company said in a press statement. It said it experienced service interruption due to fiber optic cuts in Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental as a result of heavy rains and strong winds brought by superTyphoon ‘‘Pablo’’ two weeks ago.

“We continue to make our network disaster-ready by addressing points of failure and investing heavily on resiliency and redundancy measures.  Our trained and committed teams serve as our second line of defense in cases like this when our network is also hit by the disaster.  Even now, our engineers and partners are working together to restore a few remote sites affected by collapsed towers,” said Robert Tan, Globe chief technical adviser.

To prepare and respond

He added: “Our people are trained to prepare for and respond to a disaster and ensure immediate restoration of services.  Thus, we would like to thank our field personnel who have worked and continue to work hard during these severe conditions to restore outages brought about by Typhoon Pablo.”

Globe said it had also conducted relief operations in two badly hit areas in Compostela Valley and organized a free call center at the municipal hall .

Uniform response

Days before the typhoon made a landfall, Globe activated its weather advisory and alert system to ensure an enterprise-wide, uniform response to the calamity, it said.  On the day itself, Globe issued advisories to employees in affected areas to provide guidance and ensure their safety.  The technical people also issued reports to top management and key leaders about the state of the network every two hours.