To ensure that the upcoming 2022 national elections will be smooth, the NTC has ordered all telcos and internet service providers (ISPs) that they should not do any form of maintenance work starting today (May 4) until May 14. This order from NTC aims to ensure that Election Day (May 9) will be as smooth as possible.

In a memo obtained by Walastech, the said measure explained that telco forms will play a crucial role in the transmission of election results and the coordination between poll-governing bodies and watchers. The NTC expects service usage for all telcos to reach its peak on Election Day.

Aside from the suspension of any maintenance work for 10 days, the NTC also ordered its regional offices to have a team that will be on standby 24/7 to address any possible emergency requests.

The memo was signed by Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba last April 25 and indicated that the last day telcos can do maintenance work was yesterday (May 3). However, it has indicated that telcos should notify the NTC immediately in the case they need to do critical emergency repairs. Should this occur, the NTC requests telcos to give a solid timeline of the repair and the impact it may cause on their services.