Government urged to boost broadband infrastructure spending

MANILA, Philippines — Government should allocate more budget for broadband infrastructure to expand, access and boost the speed of internet connectivity needed to become competitive in the global digital economy, an international think tank said.

In a statement, Stratbase ADR Institute president Dindo Manhit said connectivity is now an indispensable utility to bridge the digital divide in the Philippines and to make the benefits of economic growth inclusive.

“President Marcos has on many occasions, acknowledged the importance of a sound and stable digital infrastructure for the Philippines,” Manhit said.

“But we have to make sure that this does not only happen in select areas of the archipelago. No one must be left behind in our country’s pursuit of digital advancement.”

Unfortunately, the Philippines still lags in terms of broadband speed and coverage. According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, as of early 2024, the Philippines ranked 63rd in mobile internet speed and 77th in fixed broadband speed globally.

“These rankings show how much we still have to catch up in terms of connectivity. This is a clear hindrance to our competitiveness at a time when we are angling to be a middle-income economy,” said Manhit.

According to Manhit, broadband connectivity is the backbone of economic growth, education, and social development. It is the main engine of communications among Filipinos and those who have little to no access to it are being deprived of opportunities for economic advancement.

“Other countries have allotted significant amounts for internet spending, but the Philippines lags behind even in this basic benchmark,” said Manhit.

According to 2023 data from the National Telecommunication Commission,  Asian countries are investing aggressively in digital infrastructure. Compared to the Php 1.9 billion 2023 budget of the National Broadband Plan implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), translated to the current exchange rate it is a measly USD 0.032 billion compared to Indonesia’s $2.06 billion, Malaysia’s $5.1 billion, Singapore’s $2.8 billion, South Korea’s US$22 billion, Hong Kong’s $18 billion, and China’s US$1.4 trillion.

“Even Vietnam has surpassed us with its $0.82 billion. That’s saying a lot,” Manhit said.

Over the past six years, however, the government’s connectivity investments in terms of the DICT’s allocation has paled in comparison to the investments of the private sector. From 2018 to 2023, the DICT only had P43.3 billion pesos. Compared to aggregated disclosures submitted to the PSE and SEC, investments by the country’s top three telcos were approximately P1.079 trillion.

“This is a clear demonstration of the extent the private telcos are willing to invest to prop up the country’s digital capability,” said Manhit. “The government must complement this with counterpart investments as broadband connectivity is an empowering critical infrastructure that should at least be at par with global standards.”