The National Telecommunications Commission has called on telecommunication companies and the next administration to invest more in broadband infrastructure to reduce the cost of Internet in the country.
The regulator said while incumbent telecom players had invested substantial amounts in their respective networks, there was still a need to spend more without increasing the cost of Internet access.
Telecom companies invested an average of P51.98 billion annually over the past five years. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. invested P11.78 billion; Smart Communications Inc., P16.68 billion; Globe Telecom Inc., P19.06 billion; and Sun Cellular, P4.45 billion.
NTC said the next administration should also invest in the development of broadband infrastructure and subsidize access to Internet connectivity.
NTC deputy commissioner Edgardo Cabarios said it would require an investment of P800 billion to provide an Internet download speed of at least 2 megabits per second to 20.17 million households by 2016.
Cabarios said at the rate of P60-billion annual investment by telcos, it would take 10 years to meet the target, if there was no government intervention.
The government of Thailand invested $114 million to provide Internet service as a part of its economic policy. Malaysia, meanwhile, spent $4.5 billion over a period of 10 years to lay fiber optic lines to every home in Malaysia’s urban areas.
The International Telecommunication Union said only 18.9 percent of the Philippine households had Internet connection in 2012.
NTC endorsed a bill that would require telecommunication companies to remit a small portion of their earnings to the government to fund broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.
Under the draft bill titled ‘An Act Institutionalizing a Universal Access Fund,’ one-fourth of one percent of the gross revenues of all public telecommunications entities should be collected and automatically appropriated to the UAF.
The UAF should be used to provide ICT or broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.
The proposed bill will also require the NTC to remit 90 percent of the annual spectrum users fees paid by the telcos to the UAF as an automatic appropriation.
The NTC collects nearly a half a billion pesos annually from the telcos and broadband operators for the use of frequencies.