As of 6:27 p.m. Tuesday, Globe has reached 100% service restoration in Albay, Batangas, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Laguna, Marinduque, Masbate, Quezon and Sorsogon.

“Thanks to our field operations personnel, we were able to immediately restore services in sites affected by commercial power outages in Bicol and Southern Tagalog. We are now focused on providing the necessary support for families affected by the storm,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer.

Globe has also provided connectivity support to customers in affected areas. Globe Prepaid and TM customers received free unli calls and texts to all networks 100MB for all apps and sites, and another 100MB for social media apps valid for one day.

Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi users received free 5GB of data valid for three days, while GFiber Prepaid customers were given three days of promo extension. Due dates have, meanwhile, been extended for Globe Postpaid and GFiber Postpaid customers.

Globe is ready to deploy Libreng Tawang, Libreng Charging and Libreng WiFi sites in severely hit areas as soon as it is safe to do so.

Globe is also calling on its customers to support relief efforts by donating their Globe Rewards points via the GlobeOne app.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Enteng intensified into a severe tropical storm when it was spotted 165 kms West Northwest of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. It is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Friday.

Globe reminds the public to continue monitoring weather updates through verified platforms such as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) website. Globe customers can access the NDRRMC website where Globe customers get free data access.

For more information on Globe’s disaster response and Globe Stores operations, follow GlobeICON on Facebook or visit the Globe website for the latest #StaySafePH advisories.

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ABOUT GLOBE

Globe Telecom, Inc. is a leading full-service telecommunications company in the Philippines and publicly listed in the PSE with the stock symbol GLO. The company serves the telecommunications and technology needs of consumers and businesses across an entire suite of products and services including mobile, fixed, broadband, data connectivity, internet and managed services. It offers innovative digital solutions in the areas of fintech, healthtech, adtech, climate tech, shared services and venture capital. In 2019, Globe became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, committing to implement universal sustainability principles. Its principals are Ayala Corporation and Singtel, acknowledged industry leaders in the country and in the region.

The post Globe completes service restoration in storm-hit provinces appeared first on World Headlines.

Created by the global index and data provider FTSE Russell, the FTSE4Good Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The FTSE4Good indexes are used by a wide variety of market participants to create and assess responsible investment funds and other products. 

FTSE Russell evaluations are based on performance in areas such as Corporate Governance, Health & Safety, Anti-Corruption, and Climate Change.  Businesses included in the FTSE4Good Index Series meet a variety of environmental, social and governance criteria.

“We are dedicated to driving positive change within our organization and the communities we serve. This recognition motivates us to further our efforts and continue being a responsible corporate citizen,” said Yoly Crisanto, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer at Globe.

Globe has embedded sustainability into its core operations, starting with identifying its material topics. Through its biennial materiality study, the company is able to prioritize the key concerns of its stakeholders. Globe also conducts an enterprise-level risk assessment exercise where sustainability-linked risks are included. This yearly activity, where top management and management committees across all business units participate, ensures that Globe remains vigilant and proactive in its sustainability efforts.

Applying both a top-down and bottom-up approach, executives set the sustainability ambitions, align them with the company’s business objectives, and allocate the necessary resources to reach their goals.  Employees innovate and come up with solutions to ensure that the ambitions are on track in terms of attainment. Both employees and executives are provided incentives to drive greater adoption and accountability of sustainability commitments and targets.

Sustainability Councils have been established as platforms to upskill, share best practices, and discuss sustainability-linked challenges and opportunities to better serve the customers. Internal ESG Playbooks have also been crafted to offer practical guidance.

Adhering to the principles of  transparency and accountability, Globe annually publishes its Integrated Report to share its ESG performance. This summarizes how Globe creates value for and with its stakeholders to deliver positive societal and environmental impact. The report also marks the second year of adopting the GSMA ESG Metrics for Mobile, highlighting the company’s material impact across the mobile industry’s industry-specific KPIs, particularly in Environment, Digital Inclusion, Digital Integrity, and Sustainable Supply Chain.

The Integrated Report is externally assured to ensure that the non-financial sustainability-related disclosures and performance data meet the reporting standards of GRI and SASB and the principles of Stakeholder Inclusiveness, Materiality, Responsiveness, Reliability, Completeness, and Neutrality.

Likewise, for the first time, Globe has secured an Independent Verification Statement certifying the fair representation of the GHG emissions data of Globe, covering Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions.

For more information on Globe’s sustainability initiatives, please visit https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/sustainability.

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ABOUT GLOBE

Globe Telecom, Inc. is a leading full-service telecommunications company in the Philippines and publicly listed in the PSE with the stock symbol GLO. The company serves the telecommunications and technology needs of consumers and businesses across an entire suite of products and services including mobile, fixed, broadband, data connectivity, internet and managed services. It offers innovative digital solutions in the areas of fintech, healthtech, adtech, climate tech, shared services and venture capital. In 2019, Globe became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, committing to implement universal sustainability principles. Its principals are Ayala Corporation and Singtel, acknowledged industry leaders in the country and in the region.

The post Globe secures spot in FTSE4Good Index for 9th consecutive year appeared first on World Headlines.

The law aims to “protect all persons from falling prey to the various cybercrime schemes by regulating the use of financial accounts, and preventing their use in fraudulent activities.”

Globe believes this law will complement the Cybercrime Prevention Act and the SIM Registration Act, strengthening security measures against ever evolving scam tactics by fraudsters.

“As a service provider that deals with fraudsters every day, Globe is grateful that the Philippines now has a law that is up to date and addresses fast-evolving threats to the security of our financial system,” said Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO.

“We especially appreciate how the law covers in great detail various emerging fraud methods, including the recruitment of money mules, social engineering schemes, and other modes assisted by tech, including SMS, email, and even generative AI. This ultimately gives regulators and law enforcers sharper teeth in stopping financial fraud,” he added.

He said the law will serve to reinforce Globe’s ongoing efforts against financial fraud, including proactive blocking of person-to-person SMS and bank-related phishing and vishing.

In the first half of the year, Globe blocked over 2.74 million bank-related spam and scam messages, a decline of 43.56% compared to the 4.85 million messages blocked in the same period of 2023. This reflects how Globe’s collaboration with banks and other financial institutions to curb financial fraud has been working.

Cu reaffirmed Globe’s commitment to stringent monitoring and blocking of potential financial fraud in its network.

“Globe will remain a staunch ally of the government and financial institutions in beating fraud. Through the passage of AFASA, we look forward to a safer financial environment for our customers and the public,” he said.

AFASA mandates banks and other financial institutions to implement stringent security measures and robust fraud management systems to protect financial accounts.

It empowers the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to thoroughly investigate and scrutinize financial accounts potentially involved in illicit activities. It also authorizes the BSP to apply for cybercrime warrants for electronic communications implicated in violations of this law, effectively bypassing the usual constraints imposed by bank secrecy and data privacy regulations.

The law penalizes financial fraud schemes with heavier penalties, including imprisonment of 6 to 8 years and fines of up to Php 500,000 for money mule schemes; prison time of 10 to 12 years or fines of up to Php 1 million for social engineering schemes; and life imprisonment or fines of up to Php 5 million for economic sabotage.

To learn more about Globe’s efforts against cybercrime, please visit www.globe.com.ph.

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ABOUT GLOBE

Globe Telecom, Inc. is a leading full-service telecommunications company in the Philippines and publicly listed in the PSE with the stock symbol GLO. The company serves the telecommunications and technology needs of consumers and businesses across an entire suite of products and services including mobile, fixed, broadband, data connectivity, internet and managed services. It offers innovative digital solutions in the areas of fintech, healthtech, adtech, climate tech, shared services and venture capital. In 2019, Globe became a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, committing to implement universal sustainability principles. Its principals are Ayala Corporation and Singtel, acknowledged industry leaders in the country and in the region.

The post New law vs financial scams a welcome step to deter fraud appeared first on World Headlines.

Globe’s segment in the PDSCN Express Route was lit up on February 5, covering the following points:

●       Lucena City, Quezon

●       Boac, Marinduque

●       Calatrava, Tablas Island, Romblon

●       Roxas City, Capiz

●       Placer, Masbate

●       Palompon, Leyte

●       Mactan, Cebu

●       Talisay City, Cebu

●       Tagbilaran City, Bohol

●       Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental

“The activation of the PDSCN Express Route marks another milestone in our journey towards providing inclusive connectivity across the archipelago, especially in underserved and unserved areas. It will also enhance the reliability and resilience of our network given the country’s vulnerability to disasters and calamities,” said Joel Agustin, Globe SVP and Head of Network Planning and Engineering.

Agustin said Globe has also completed 90% of cable landing stations across the archipelago under the $150-million subsea cable project. Cable landing stations are crucial landing points for undersea fiber-optic cables, which transmit vast amounts of internet data across oceans.

“The wet segment was finished as scheduled last year. Our focus now is connecting our inland facilities. So far we have completed 90 percent and we are completing the rest by this year,” he said.

PDSCN, Globe’s fourth domestic submarine backbone, will help boost connectivity to improve customer experience for both household and business clients. It comes as a crucial addition to Globe’s network infrastructure amid increasing connectivity needs, and will serve to minimize service downtime, help ensure business continuity, and improve network security and overall efficiency.

A joint project of Globe, Eastern Communications, and InfiniVAN Inc., PDSCN covers a total cable distance of 2,500 kilometers, the longest of its kind in the country.  It kicked off in Subic Bay, Zambales, in July 2022 and laid cables in 24 segments with a total 33 landing sites connecting Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

“PDSCN is a vital component of our network expansion program and proof of our unwavering commitment to bridging the digital divide in the Philippines. We firmly believe in improving the country’s digital infrastructure to achieve a more inclusive and equitable digital future for all Filipinos,” said Agustin.

The company’s push for a #1stWorldNetwork is in support of the government’s digital transformation goals to improve connectivity across the country.

PDSCN is a critical pillar of the Digital Infrastructure sector under the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), an organization formed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to enhance public-private collaboration toward inclusive national development. As a member of PSAC, Globe Group President and CEO Ernest Cu helps ensure that the benefits of the country’s digital transformation are accessible to all Filipinos.

To learn more about Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph.

The post Globe lights up new submarine cable segment from Luzon to Mindanao, nears completion of inland facilities appeared first on World Headlines.

At Globe’s RISE 3.0 event, representatives from the government, technology, and real property industries gathered to tackle trends and developments in policies and tech that impact the way Filipinos experience connectivity.

At the center of discussions is how to expand connectivity and improve customer experience given current barriers.

“Let’s all work together to provide equitable connectivity across the country. The telcos cannot do it alone. We are very large facilities but we have over a hundred million people to connect. The government is doing its share, alleviating requirements and permits and giving incentives. We need members of the private sector who are very much interested in furthering the connectivity agenda. It’s only by working together that we can come up to speed with other countries out there that are truly digital,” said Ernest Cu, Globe Group President and CEO.

“Our goal is to cover the entire country for the Philippines to be really called a digital nation and to be able to say that we can provide the kind of services that are streamlined and digitalized in order to fight corruption in the process,” said Anti-Red Tape Authority Secretary Ernesto Perez. 

In a report released in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority said just over half or 56.1% of Filipino households can access the internet at home. Statistics from a 2020 study of Thinking Machines and the Asian Development Bank, meanwhile, revealed the gulf in internet speeds between urban and rural areas in the Philippines, with the country’s five wealthiest cities having average speeds of 25.65 Mbps, while the five poorest cities had a significantly slower 4.62 Mbps.

A Philippine Institute for Development Studies paper in 2021, meanwhile, showed that access to fiber optic cable was available in only 29% of barangays across the country, with rural barangays making up a meager 12% of these fiber-connected areas.

Devid Gubiani, President and CEO of PhilTower Consortium, pointed out that the Philippines lagged behind its Asian neighbors in terms of tower-user ratio, which greatly affects user experience. With 17,850 cell sites serving 76 million internet users in the Philippines, 4,258 people share connectivity from a single tower. In comparison, the ratio is one tower to 1,554 people in Indonesia, one to 711 in Vietnam, and one to 408 in China.

“We need more hands on deck. Shared infrastructure is key to providing ubiquitous connectivity. We can potentially enable much better service for more Filipinos but also a much broader coverage. It’s about the depth and it’s about coverage,” Gubiani said.

Undersecretary Jeff Dy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology said the government is already looking at crafting policy on common towers and common poles. He said the department is also studying a “Dig Once” Policy, where all concerned utility services must be informed of an infrastructure project that requires a dig so that all necessary conduits and connections will be completed in one go. This minimizes street-level disruption that aggravates traffic.

“Connectivity is the lifeblood of a digital nation. Let us forge a collaboration that allows us to build a digitally empowered Philippines that is inclusive, and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, as directed by DICT Secretary Ivan Uy under the vision of our President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. No one gets left behind,” he said.

Mitch Ora, Site Lifecycle Management Services Vice President at Globe, said the Philippines needs an estimated 40,000 more towers to get to the ideal tower-user ratio.

She said Globe continues to pursue infrastructure models that will advance enhanced and more inclusive connectivity. These include tower-sharing, which Globe already undertakes with partners; fiberco which will allow quick upgrades of old copper wires into fiber in homes and buildings; and the in-building neutral host-sharing model, which allows the sharing of indoor antennas.

“If connectivity improves, consumers will enjoy multiple benefits, including in the worst of circumstances,” said Bill Luz, Chairman of Liveable Cities Philippines and Chief Resilience Officer of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF).

“There are going to be many, many benefits for the consumer. Let me refer to a very extreme case: a disaster. At PDRF, whenever there’s a disaster, in the immediate call out for help, it’s always connectivity, power, and water, the three utilities that people look for. And you can already see that’s the way people treat it. They need it,” he said.

To learn more about Globe’s initiatives on connectivity, please visit www.globe.com.ph.

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