“We absolutely help and be part of the PSAC’s name for the everlasting enforcement of ARTA’s JMCs on telecoms and digital infrastructure and urge the President to swiftly act on this EO”
The latest pronouncements of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. about his administration’s drive to digitize the paperwork at World Financial discussion board in Switzerland is the most recent of a collection of statements emphasizing the urgency to make sure digital infrastructure are in place to attach each Filipino.
He has additionally engaged the Personal Sector Advisory Council and obtained suggestions on the way to strengthen the nation’s digital infrastructure.
President Marcos Jr’s method of harnessing the experience of the non-public sector is a stark distinction to the previous President Duterte’s irreverent and alienating demeanor in direction of the main telecommunications firms and even threatening them with a authorities take over.
I bear in mind watching the night information of a session assembly in Malacañang the place Duterte jokingly stated to Globe Telecoms president Ernest Cu that he would cling him from one among his cell towers if Globe’s providers won’t enhance by the top of the 12 months.
Cu wittingly answered, “Mayor, you can not do this as a result of there isn’t a tower. The native governments are all f*cking it up, that’s why. So the place will you cling me? On a coconut tree?”
Cu then defined that telcos have been delayed by about 30 permits for every tower they construct so you possibly can think about the purple tape nightmare of constructing hundreds of cell websites that in worst circumstances can take a 12 months.
Apparently, this drawback has been happening for a lot of administrations.
In 2020, the Anti Pink Tape Authority, the Division of Info and Communications Know-how, and all of the related companies which can be a part of the gauntlet of permits, issued two Joint Memorandum Circulars (JMC 1 collection 2020 and 2021) to drastically reduce down the quantity and timeline of the allowing for the development of telecommunications and web infrastructure.
To additional illustrate the bureaucratic craziness that telcos needed to go via, the opposite companies that needed to be concerned in these JMC’s are the Division of the Inside and Native Authorities for native authorities points, the Division of Public Works and Highways for constructing permits, Division of Well being for well being permits, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on tower top points, Division of Human Settlements and City Growth, the Meals and Drug Administration, the Nationwide Telecommunications Fee, and the Bureau of Fireplace Safety.
JMC 1 collection 2020 resulted within the constructing and operationalizing of roughly 7,000 towers in solely 18 months.
This was achieved by decreasing the variety of permits for telco towers from 13 to eight, and the variety of documentary necessities from 86 to 35.
These reforms reduce down the timeline from 8 delay riddled months to solely 16 days.
Then again, JMC 1 collection 2021 which focuses on the issuance of permits and clearances for the opposite, likewise important, digital infrastructures similar to poles, underground fiber ducts, and the set up of aerial and underground cable services crucial for telecommunications and web providers considerably streamlined the method aligned with the JMC for telcos and diminished the timeline from 2 and half years to 2 and a half months.
By the center of 2022, the speed of tower building elevated by 311 p.c with the full now approaching 30 thousand telco towers.
Although nonetheless under what the DICT sees as a 50 thousand backlog in telco towers, the Philippine’s web velocity index has improved and has been on an upward trajectory.
In response to the November 2022 Ookla Speedtest World Index for fastened broadband, the Philippines is now ranked forty fifth, a 21-step enchancment from 71st in October 2021 with ranking of 81.42 MBPS.
Cellular web additionally improved and rated at 24.04 MBPS and gaining 13 notches to eightieth from 93rd.
These are encouraging outcomes however simply as President Marcos Jr remarked through the telco summit final December, the Philippines’ connectivity charge is “nonetheless fairly low” and has to enhance.
He stated, “That’s not ok, particularly for an archipelagic nation similar to ours the place connectivity is exceedingly essential as a result of we’ve many remoted communities who want some type of contact, some type of communication with the remainder of the nation, with the remainder of the world.”
The digital infrastructure group of PSAC composed of representatives of the main telecommunications firms and banks will initially be specializing in a nationwide enlargement of entry to web connectivity and digitalization initiatives.
High precedence is after all addressing the gaps in telecommunications and digital infrastructure the place the telcos are prepared to guide with their sources and experience.
Nevertheless, the effectivity of the JMCs on telecommunications and digital infrastructure will quickly expire in July prompting the PSAC’s first suggestion to be instantly institutionalized into an Government Order to maintain the compliance of the related authorities companies and native authorities models.
As a convenor of client advocacy group CitizenWatch Philippines, we absolutely help and be part of the PSAC’s name for the everlasting enforcement of ARTA’s JMCs on telecoms and digital infrastructure and urge the President to swiftly act on this EO.