Shape up or face foreign competition, Telcos told

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto warned yesterday the country’s telecommunications companies (Telcos) to shape up or face stiff foreign competition.

Recto issued the statement as incoming President Rodrigo Duterte has, at his disposal, an entire department to crack the whip on telecommunication firms who fail to improve the speed of Internet download in the country.

“All the incoming President needs to do is hire the best man for the job, the best Cabinet secretary for the newly created Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), to ensure better services from telecommunication firms,” Recto said.

Recto is the principal sponsor of Senate Bill 2686 or the DICT Act of 2015, which President Aquino signed into law last Monday as Republic Act No. 10844.

He cited a recent declaration by Duterte that he would open the country to foreign telecommunication firms that could provide better service if the existing Telcos would not do something to improve Internet connection and access.

In the recent political campaign for the presidency, Duterte had said he would make Internet connectivity a public policy.

“I fully support the incoming President’s plan to crack the whip on erring telcos. Hopefully, the newly created DICT can live up to the task and serve as his loyal army that will win the war against inefficiency in the telecommunications sector,” Recto said.

Recto is also the chairman of the Senate Science and Technology Committee.

“May this serve as a warning to erring Telcos. The incoming President will have, at his command, a new department that is duty-bound to protect the interest of the electronic republic,” Recto said.

With an average household download speed of 3.64 Mbps, the Philippines ranked 176th out of 202 countries, according to a study last year by Internet metrics provider Ookla.

The local download speed is eight times slower than the global average broadband download speed of 23.3 Mbps.