Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 14) — State auditors questioned the National Telecommunications Commission for buying high-end mobile phones which are not being used for actual projects.
The central and Metro Manila offices of NTC supposedly purchased 44 Samsung Galaxy S9 and S10 phones in 2018 and 2019 for ₱2.1 million. Back then, they were the top-of-the-line smartphones produced by the Korean gadget maker.
The Commission on Audit found that only four units are being used for their intended purpose of monitoring the performance of telecommunications networks in terms of speed, reliability, and coverage.
“None of the central office personnel with issued mobile phones conducted validation and measurement of broadband speed as no mission orders were issued to them,” read COA’s 2019 audit report on the agency.
The NTC is a body that supervises and regulates all telecommunications services in the country, including internet services, radio stations, and cable companies. It recently made headlines when it issued an order to stop the operations of media giant ABS-CBN.
Apparently, most of the mobile phones were issued to directors and officers-in-charge within NTC — officials who are not involved in broadband performance testing.
State auditors said only three out of 13 NTC engineers assigned in the National Capital Region who are conducting these tests got a smartphone unit.
“The remaining 10 personnel were not issued with mobile phones but accordingly, they only borrow units issued to the other personnel during the times they will conduct the validation,” auditors revealed.
In their reply, NTC management admitted the phones were issued to directors, clarifying that they were using it to check broadband services as regular users.
They supposedly use the mobile phones to conduct tests anytime and anywhere to help craft new policies and regulations to improve broadband services.
However, state auditors said it is unclear whether these supposed tests actually help policymaking as none of the officials who received the phones submitted actual reports to this effect.
“We believe that there should be documentations prepared as a result of these activities to be used as inputs for in the formulation of new policies,” auditors said.
RELATED: NTC extends Dito Telecommunity deadline to deliver on technical audit requirements
