Senator Joel Villanueva said the entry of a third telecommunications service provider could boost the implementation of the proposed Telecommuting Act or Work-From-Home Act.
Telecommuting is the partial or total substitution of computers or telecommunication technologies, or both, for the commute to work by employees.
“The entry of a third telco player will create competition and provide better services amid consumer problems on the country’s slow and expensive Internet. It will accommodate the potential influx of reliance on technology that may be brought about by the subsequent implementation of our Telecommuting Bill,” said Villanueva, author and sponsor of the measure.
Based on content delivery provider Akamai’s Global State of the Internet report in May 2017, the Philippines is reported to have the slowest average internet speed in Asia Pacific with an average of 5.5 megabits per second.
This is much lower than the global average internet connection speed which is pegged at 7.2 mbps.
At present, internet services in the country are being offered by only two major telecom providers—the PLDT and Globe Telecom.
“We want to push for our Filipino workers to have a meaningful work-life balance by encouraging employers to explore telecommuting as a way of allowing work flexibility,” the senator said.
“We therefore urge the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the National Telecommunications Commission and the private sector to work together to upgrade our existing Internet infrastructure for our employees to afford an option to work under a flexible work arrangement,” Villanueva said.
Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. earlier divulged that the winning third telecommunications network provider may start getting its own subscribers by June next year.
So far, five local companies and at least seven foreign ones have expressed interest in filling the country’s need for a third telco provider.
These include PT&T, Now, Converge, Transpacific-Broadband and TiereOne.
Meanwhile, the foreign companies vying for the slot include China Telecom, KT Corp., LG U+, KDDI Corp., Viettel, Vietnam Telecom, Telenor and AT&T.
The telecommunications companies vying to be the third telco player must have a congressional franchise or one that covers a bidding agreement with committed local or foreign investors.
They must also have a paid-up capital of at least P10 billion or, if covered by a bidding agreement, the aggregate paid capital of its members should be at least P10 billion.
The minimum or maximum average broadband speed of the bidding companies should likewise be 5 megabytes per second to 55 megabytes per second.