The Department of Information and Communications Technology said it plans to use a mobile app that will monitor the bandwidth and signal strength of the new major telecommunications player.
Designed by volunteers for volunteers, Project BASS (Bandwidth and Signal Strength) is a free crowdsourcing mobile app that monitors the bandwidth provided by the telco companies and other internet service providers.
The DICT plans to use the app to check if the chosen new player is performing according to its annual committed minimum average speed, which is part of the selection criteria anchored on Highest Committed Level of Service (HCLoS) approach.
Aside from measuring internet speeds, the application can approximate geographical location data of cell sites used in the user’s internet measurement, a feature to have potential value in fine-tuning common tower policies and strategies.
“The idea here is instead of each one of us going to social media and putting our gripes that our internet is slow, why don’t we collectively do something about it and be a partner for better Philippine internet?” Project BASS co-founder Wilson Chua said.
The system’s main component is a crowdsourcing mobile application that lets users measure their internet by executing a simple file download from a server of DOST-ASTI.
Once the measure is taken, it is uploaded to a database server. The results are freely downloadable and can be subjected by anyone to analysis.
The government expects to name the new player telco player by November this year. It expects the company to roll out commercial operations by June next year.
The submission and opening of bid documents for the selection of new major player were set on Nov. 7 this year.
China Telecom, Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Now Telecom, Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp., the joint venture of businessman and politician Chavit Singson’s LSC Group of Companies and TierOne Communications and Norway’s Telenor Group earlier purchased bid documents.