Government urged to invest more, update laws on telco

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. has asked the government to raise its budget and pursue reforms on connectivity to give the country a chance of catching up in the broadband race.

Globe is urging the government to make significant changes in the way that it allocates budget for digital infrastructure to keep up with the global standard.

Based on records from Globe, telcos invested a combined P640 billion from 2021 to 2023 for the upgrade of their network capabilities in response to consumer demand.

Meanwhile, Globe said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) spent just P7.6 billion between 2018 and 2024 in building up internet infrastructure.

Globe asked that the DICT be given more budget than what the agency usually gets.

As previously proposed by the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), Globe said a minimum of P240 billion is needed to improve connectivity assets across the country.

Without this, PSAC said  the government may fail to achieve its target of boosting internet penetration to 65 percent.

Likewise, Globe underscored the urgency to update policies on telco infrastructure, reiterating its advocacy to remove lease fees for connectivity assets in buildings and development.

Globe is pushing for the amendment of the National Building Code of the Philippines to provide automatic allocation of space for telco cables, equipment and lines in property projects.

Globe also requested that the government, from the national to the local level, comply with Executive Order 32 that simplifies the process for telco permitting.

The Ayala-led telco issued its wish list to the government following the release of the ICT Development Index 2024 developed by the International Telecommunication Union.

Although the Philippines raised its score in the index to 74.4 this year from 65 in 2023, it still failed to hit the world average of 74.8.