Telcos assure Duterte of improved services

MANILA, Philippines – Executives of two dominant telecommunications firms in the country have met with members of Duterte’s economic team to discuss ways of speeding up Internet service, one of the slowest in the world.

Telcos have reportedly submitted to the incoming Duterte administration a two-page to-do list to build and maintain the necessary infrastructure to improve Internet service.

Duterte earlier declared he would open the country to foreign telecommunications firms that could provide better service if the existing telcos do not do something to improve Internet connection and access.

“I will make it a public policy – the Internet connectivity,” Duterte told a press briefing in Davao Saturday night. 

With an average household download speed of 3.64 Mbps, the Philippines ranked 176th out of 202 countries, according to a study by Internet metrics provider Ookla.

The local download speed is eight times slower than the global average broadband download speed of 23.3 Mbps.

The Philippines has also earned the distinction of having the second-slowest Internet speed in Asia.

Among 22 countries in Asia, the Philippines has a download speed just a tad faster than that of bottom-dweller Afghanistan, according to Ookla.

Aside from slow speed, Internet service in the Philippines is also expensive – $18.19 per Mbps compared with the average $5.21 across the globe.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, principal sponsor of Senate Bill 2686 or the DICT Act of 2015, said Duterte has, at his disposal, an entire department to crack the whip on telecommunication firms who fail to improve the speed of Internet download.

“All the incoming president needs to do is hire the best man for the job, the best Cabinet secretary for the newly created DICT to ensure better services from telecommunication firms,” Recto said.

Recto said the DICT is mandated by law to be the “primary planning, coordinating, implementing, regulating and administrative entity” of the Executive department “that would develop the country’s ICT sector.”

Government agencies that will be absorbed under DICT include the Information and Communications Technology Office; National Computer Center; National Computer Institute; Telecommunications Office; National Telecommunications Training Institute and all operating units of the Department of Transportation and Communications with functions and responsibilities dealing with communication.

Also to be attached to DICT are the National Telecommunications Commission, National Privacy Commission, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center.

The department shall be headed by a secretary, and assisted by three undersecretaries, and four assistant secretaries, all of whom should have at least seven years of competence and experience in the ICT sector.