FREELANCER: On Cellsite w/o Genset, Re Cong. Thirdy

A few weeks ago members of the Ata indigenous community in Brgy. Puey in Sagay City started to avail of free drinking water from the solar-powered water system and refilling station project of Congressman Alfredo “Thirdy” Marañon III of the Second District of Negros Occidental.

The project is actually just among accomplishments of the good congressman.

Actually, not all that he’s been doing for his constituents are made public. The recipients are the ones who tell others about his undertakings for them in his district.

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One of the leaders of our organization asked me how he is. That simply means his works remind others about him.

I then tried to search for the latest with the good solon from the north. Nice to know that he has filed several bills that will be of great help for the second district.

Just among the bills he filed in the 20th Congress included for the establishment of a Land Transportation Office district office in Sagay City; the establishment of a multi-species marine hatchery; establishment of a Register of Deeds office; amending for the purpose RA 8192 known as the Charter of the City of Sagay; and Strengthening the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. for more benefits for farmers.

That’s a lot to report to my leader about Cong. Thirdy.

* * *

The power ffttt sites.

“High speed data, clear voice and data calls and text, with pure 5G signal…,” goes the hype by a telco in the hope of getting more subscribers.

Sadly, and annoyingly, such “super fast” claims instantly evaporate when a power interruption occurs.

The cell site goes dead!

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Actually, I am not the only one who is very thankful that there are now three telecommunication companies providing wireless connectivity services.

Primarily because the absence of the former duopoly in several places was filled up by the third telco.

Second, the rates for their services were reduced, with additional buckets of add-ons triggered by the low-priced latecomer.

Third, there are lots of options now to choose from.

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Even during the period when Dito Telecommunity was still in the process of identifying spots ideal for its towers, Smart and Globe were already boosting their capacities and putting up more cell sites, reaching more far-flung areas.

Although both telcos were too far ahead of Dito and were massively expanding their areas of coverage, they also had to contend with the fact that they must also boost their 5G signal.

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Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think one thing that slowed down the deployment of more cell sites in uncovered but viable areas, even up to these days, is the multi-million-peso cost of each 5G site that they need to put up first in high traffic highly-urbanized zones.

In Bacolod, there are even “malls” that still do not have 5G connectivity because the telcos, I was told, cited the cost.

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I am only a keen follower of updates in the field of electronics and telecommunications. I have no complete understanding of how telcos choose a place to put up its facility.

I am, however, sure that viability especially the prospect of a quick return of investment, is the first thing they consider. Then they use gadgets to determine the right spot to put it up, taking into account also the security of its facility.

Anyway, I still hope places with poor or not yet covered by telcos will finally be served.

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Going back to cell sites that also die when electricity dies, our regulators in the telco industry must require the telcos to always include a generating set in each of their cell sites before they are approved.

With billions in pesos of streaming profits, telcos can afford a generator with enough capacity to sustain its operations during power outages.

How did we, users, know that there are cell sites without generators? Of course, during brownouts!

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The local government units can assist on this matter. I suppose they prevent the actual operation of a cell site when it has no generating set.

It’s a breach of contract on the part of the telco, and a loss to users in both prepaid and postpaid plans when disconnected for hours during power interruptions, because of the absence of a genset – not mentioning in times of emergency.* (APT)