Lawmaker backs push for more telco players

A LAWMAKER has voiced his support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan of bringing new players to the telecommunications or telco sector in an effort to improve its services.

Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. on Sunday said the lack of effective competition in the sector is the main cause of the poor quality of services despite the high prices.

The statement came after the recent resignation of Secretary Rodolfo Salalima of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DITC).

According to Campos, he is counting on Salalima’s replacement to find the legal and regulatory frameworks that would open up the telecommunications sector to more players.

He said the DICT is seeking the creation of a national broadband network that will provide an Inter- net connection speed of at least 10 megabytes per second (mbps) to all households by 2020 at a lower price than today’s average monthly bill of P1,299.

“We should have multiple players persistently racing to beat each other in delivering superior Internet services at reduced prices,” Campos added.

Citing the ranking of the Philippines as the slowest in Southeast Asia year in and year out, he said Internet services as a basic telecommunications provision in order for regulators to impose upgrades on their services.

According to the ranking, the Philippines has an average connection speed of 5.5 mbps, a far cry from the average of Thailand (16 mbps), Vietnam (9.5 mbps), Malaysia (8.9 mbps) and Indonesia (7.2 mbps).