MOBILE services of Smart Communications Inc. in parts of Metro Manila and Luzon resumed to normal operation yesterday, in compliance with the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) directive.

As of 2:10 p.m. on September 19, Smart said in an advisory that repairs have been completed and services have normalized after prepaid and postpaid subscribers in parts of Metro Manila, North Luzon and South Luzon had intermittent mobile service on September 18.

This complies with the NTC’s memorandum issued on the same day calling Smart’s attention to the major outage experienced by postpaid and prepaid subscribers of Smart and Talk and Text in Metro Manila and some provinces in Luzon beginning early evening.

“On 18 September 2024, at on or before 8:00 in the evening, the Commission received reports of a significant and widespread mobile telecommunications service interruption experienced by both postpaid and prepaid subscribers of Smart Communications, Inc. within Metro Manila and several parts of Luzon,” the memorandum stated. 

In the same memorandum, NTC directed Smart “to immediately resolve these mobile telecommunications service disruptions and submit to the Commission hourly written report as to the cause, extent and measures implemented to rectify the incident, until the same has been resolved.”

Smart was likewise directed to ensure the proper and immediate handling of customer service calls/messages and complaints.

As of June 2024, Smart’s total registered users stood at 60.8 million, of which 58.6 million are prepaid and 2.19 million are postpaid subscribers.

Smart serves approximately 96 percent of the country’s cities and municipalities.