Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Sun Cellular (Sun) have rolled out additional libreng tawag and free mobile device charging stations to assist communities in areas affected by Typhoon Ruby.
As of this morning, free calls and charging of mobile devices are available in the following sites: Cebu City Hall; San Vicente Parish in Bogo City, Province of Cebu; Municipal Hall of San Jose in Mindoro; Malabon City Hall; Caluag in Quezon; and in Sta. Cruz and Boac in Marinduque.
For Eastern Samar, which was among the provinces heavily affected by the typhoon, the telcos are setting up Libreng Tawag stations at the Borongan City Hall; and at the municipal halls of Dolores, Taft, and Catarman.
Additional Smart Satellite phones were also handed over to the Department of National Defense to augment government coordination for emergency assistance and disaster relief.
The companies are also set to deploy additional Libreng Tawag sites to help affected residents communicate with loved ones. Smart and Sun are also deploying portable power generation sets for free charging stations in areas where commercial power has not been restored such as parts of Samar, Sorsogon, Quezon and Marinduque. More company facilities will also be opened for free mobile device charging in areas that will have more prolonged power outages. Updates are made available via official company social media accounts in Facebook and Twitter as well as through the #SafePh page at www.smart.com.ph/about/safeph.
Network services of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Sun Cellular (Sun) continue to operate in the CALABARZON and MIMAROPA areas – the areas on Typhoon Ruby’s direct path yesterday. Some locations in the Batangas and Mindoro provinces may experience diminished indoor coverage due to the loss of commercial electric power and the possibility that some antenna towers were misaligned by strong winds. No major damages to any transmission facilities have been reported.
Meanwhile, a second team of network personnel and equipment arrived today in Eastern Samar on-board the an aircraft of the Philippine Air Force [PAF]. They will join the first team that was pre-deployed prior to the arrival of Typhoon Ruby.
This was made possible through the close coordination efforts of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council through the office of Undersecretary Alexander Pama and the Philippine Air Force who assisted in providing military aircraft for the transport of network restoration equipment and personnel even before the arrival of the typhoon. Restoration work is in full swing in Eastern Visayas with more base stations initially affected last Sunday now running.
Smart and Sun continue to provide emergency communications assistance in the form of Smart Satellite phones, mobile and Internet devices, load, and Infoboard text messaging service for various government offices, relief agencies and citizen volunteer groups. Subscribers of the telcos may also avail of its Free Internet promo to be able to get updates from important websites and social media accounts. This will just require one time registration by sending FREE to 9999 and subscribers will get 30MB of free data usage every day.
Deployment of SatPhone thru Philippine Air Force, Mactan Airbase.
