Greater budget allocation in the 2025 budget and succeeding cycles should be prioritized to plug the gaps in digital infrastructure raised by President Marcos during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, a top international think tank said.
Stratbase Institute President Victor Andres Manhit said aside from economic development and inclusive growth, connectivity is most crucial in post-disaster efforts and in preventing similar damage and destruction through information sharing and dissemination.
“The President said some P3 trillion in total investments in various sectors have already been green lane-certified. This is well and good, but our legislators should already be looking ahead and prioritize the funding of Phases 2 and 3 of the national fiber backbone as soon as possible,” he said.
President Marcos reported in his SONA that Phase 1 of the National Fiber Backbone has been operationalized, with the next two phases expected to be completed by 2026.
The backbone intends to improve the number of households in the Philippines connected to the internet, which in 2022 stood at just 77 percent of 20.6 million households.
“It is heartening that the President acknowledged the initiative and participation of private sector partners in accomplishing our nation’s connectivity goals,” Manhit said.
In his speech, the President also mentioned the nearly 10 million unique user devices benefiting from free internet in over 13,000 locations in the country.
“But while much has been done, a lot more needs to be accomplished so that our economy can truly become digitally empowered, and our people truly digitally capable,” Manhit said.
The Telecom Review recently ranked the Philippines the 41st in the world in terms of internet speed.
“This is compounded by the great disparity among regions in terms of consistency and quality of connectivity. It is here where IT infrastructure is crucial. Without sufficient investments in digital infrastructure, the plan will unfortunately remain in the critical wish list and will again be a nagging problem in the next SONA,” Manhit said.
“As Congress begins to start deliberations on the 2025 national budget, we hope that our legislators ensure that the National Fiber Backbone project will have adequate allocation to accelerate completion and operationalization,” he added.
