LEGAZPI CITY, April 9 (PNA) — Communication lines of Smart, Sun and Talk and Text did not function for almost five hours on Thursday after a power and communication system of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) bogged down reportedly due to power fluctuation, a Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) official said Thursday.
BFP Chief Insp. Aquiles Santiago, Legazpi City fire chief, said they received a fire call from PLDT at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, saying that the company’s Automatic Transfer System (ATS) was burned because of a power fluctuation that totally destroyed its communication equipment.
The damage to ATS of PLDT Toll Exchange based in this city affected millions of Smart, Sun and TNT subscribers in Bicol and parts of Luzon and the Visayas regions, Santiago said.
PLDT is the communication provider of its sister-companies Smart, Sun and TNT.
Millions of subscribers complained about the no-signal condition of their cell phones at around 8:30 a.m. but the signal was restored at 1:00 p.m. after PLDT technician made some temporary repairs on the equipment.
A PLDT employee, who refused to be named due lack of authority to speak about the matter, said the ATS was the “heart” of the communication system that transmits messages and calls to the different communication hubs of the three Telcos.
Santiago said the electricity fluctuation might have been triggered by the attraction of the power source coming from the Albay Power Energy Corp. and the PLDTs generator set, causing the ATS cable and wires to get burned.
He blamed the PLDT for not installing a power voltage regulator that would prevent occurrence of power fluctuation in the future.
Repair works are still on-going as PLDT technicians are installing temporary “by pass” lines that would enable them to operate in an emergency mode.
As this developed, Edith Regidor of the APEC said their engineering unit has not recorded any power fluctuation incident during the period, denying claims of PLDT that there was indeed a sudden power surge.
The incident of lost signal came as the Smart Corp. will be launching on Friday the Digital Tourism Application for Albay.
The Albay Tourism App will provide Smart subscribers with tourism events and destinations in the province. (PNA)