PCC outlines proposals for Nat’l Broadband Plan

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has expressed support to the National Broadband Plan (NBP) approved by President Duterte during a recent Cabinet meeting and is endorsing measures to make it more effective.

Among its recommendations include the imposition of higher penalties on erring telco players and removing government regulations that restrict healthy competition in the industry.

“The objective of the NBP is to ensure that all Filipinos will reap the benefits of broadband, address challenges in the sector, and accelerate broadband deployment. The PCC supports the DICT in its efforts to improve broadband services in the country,” the antitrust body said in its position paper.

The NBP aims to upgrade the quality of broadband services in the country, widen its reach, and link all government agencies, public institutions and local government units through the internet. The program’s formulation and implementation is spearheaded by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

To ensure the NBP is effective in attaining its goals, PCC is recommending several measures that include giving regulators such as the National Telecom- munications Commission (NTC) more teeth to enforce their mandates, reviewing the competition landscape in the telco sector, and resolving interconnection issues in the broadband market.

As far as its recommendation to impose higher penalties on erring telco players is concerned, the PCC said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should be given sufficient tools to overcome several challenges that hamper its ability to effectively regulate the industry.

Amending Republic Act 7925, it said, would allow NTC to impose higher penalties on telco players that are violating the country’s laws and regulations.