P75B nat’l broadband up in ’18
Rodolf Salalima, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary, said in a telco summit yesterday that putting up the nationwide NBN will cost about P75 billion when “starting from scratch.”
The service may be up and running by 2018, with the DICT already receiving feelers from interested suppliers that include three Chinese firms and “some Europeans,” among others, Salalima added.
The government will use the NBN as an avenue to make its services available to the public, with the potential to connect far-flung areas online as another option.
It was reported earlier that the government is considering three scenarios for the broadband plan: put up physical infrastructure in the countryside to serve government needs; lay out infrastructure for government use and for lease by telco service providers to provide services in far-flung areas; and the government itself becoming the third telco provider.
Denis Villorente, DICT undersecretary, however said they still have to smoothen the plan, with the “business model” for the project still on the drawing board.
“What the government can provide and how, we still have to make a feasibility study. We hope to have it by end of this year and then implement it by next year,” he said.
In his presentation at the telco summit, Villorente said the DICT will solicit comments for the broadband planin the first quarter of the year and launch it. In the second quarter,a feasibility study will be prepared and by the first quarter of next year, the supply contract for the project will be released.
The NBN hopes to address the Philippines’ broadband position which, based on various reports,is lagging behind regional peers in terms of affordability.
It is also expected to address the Global Information Technology Report 2016 of the World Economic Forum that showed the Philippines is below its Asean-5 counterparts in terms of infrastructure, policy and regulatory environment, and business and innovation.
“While there are a significant number of internet users in the Philippines, the internet penetration in the country is still low compared to its Asean-5 and global counterparts. Broadband Commission reported the Philippines, compared to its global peers, has ranked 110th, 89th ,64th and 111th in terms of fixed/mobile broadband penetrations and percentages of households/individuals with internet, respectively,”said Villorente.
“In terms of broadband speed, the country has been continuously outperformed by its counterparts in the Asean-5, according to the quarterly State of the Internet Connectivity Reports 2015-2016 of Akamai,” he added.
Salalima said studies have shown that every 10 percent increase in broadband penetration of a country boosts gross domestic product (GDP) by an average of 1.3 percent, and every 10 percent increase on mobile telephone density results in about 0.7 percent in GDP.
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