THE Cagayan de Oro City Council committee on trade and commerce is set to have a meeting inviting telecommunication companies and providers in the city to explain the poor internet service consumers have experienced in the past months.
This after Councilor Edna Dahino, in her special report, raised the poor internet connectivity in the city, saying she is worried that this will jeopardize the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies and e-commerce industry.
"There is an influx of BPOs in the city, they are applying to us, and these businesses rely heavily on internet connection, but as of now, the internet is so slow," she said.
She also pointed out that while the connection is consistently slow, telcos are charging consumers exorbitant fees.
Dahino said this issue was raised many times in the council and have called the attention of telcos a few times too, but nothing has changed.
City Councilor George Goking, chair of the trade and commerce committee said although there is no official report or complaint from the BPOs, but he said residents are always whining of the poor internet connection.
He said his committee is meeting telcos and other internet service providers this February 7 to give an explanation to the body.
"Gabayad ta ug sakto pero ang services, dili maayo (We are paying enough but the services are not good), they will have to explain why," Goking added.
Information and communications technology city council president Stephanie Caragos said what they need is a better priced internet plan and give a commitment of minimum speed of the plan that consumers are subscribing to.
Caragos, who is also the president and CEO of BPO Syntactics Inc., said that internet connectivity in BPO industries is important as it is the primary source in providing service.
Caragos added that they sometimes have intermittent concerns with the internet but usually it's for personal plans.
Caragos said the telcos should look into lowering the costs and fees.
"Siguro (Maybe) if there is anything that we can actually look into is the cost, kay basin pwede eventually mamub-an ang cost (because maybe we can eventually reduce the cost), so that people could actually enjoy more what they are paying. Sa karon, naay timing mag-ulan-ulan, basin maapektuhan sa weather, siguro tan-awon na nila kung unsaon nilag improve (Now that it's raining, maybe it will be affected by the weather, they'll find a way to improve the connection)," she added.
She said internet providers have to "catch up with the demand especially with the advent of streaming sites."
