Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 7) — The National Telecommunications Commission wants the installation of fiber optic cable networks to also be covered by shorter processing times to improve internet services.
New rules enforced by the Department of the Interior and Local Government as well as by the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act required local government units to fast-track the approval of permits to build cell sites nationwide – an issue raised by Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu directly to President Rodrigo Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases back in August.
“Gusto rin po sana naming mangyari ito sa [We also want this for] fiber optic cable permits,” NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba told the Senate public services committee on Monday. “Fiber optic is very important because they provide the fundamentals for telecommunication complementing the shared base tower infrastructure.”
Fiber optics allow long distance and high-performance connections through lines just as thick as a strand of hair.
Since the tower permit rules were eased, Globe was able to build 661 new towers or about 132 per month, versus an average of 92 towers in 2019. Smart erected 313 towers in the past five months. Total towers are now at 10,270 and 10,069 for Globe and Smart, respectively, against 2,066 built by Dito in less than a year.
However, PLDT led in terms of fiber optic footprint, the NTC said, with 422,290 kilometers of the high-speed internet platform laid out nationwide. Globe has 66,518 km, Converge ICT Solutions has 33,000 km, while Dito has 13,152 km so far.
The NTC chief said there have been sustained gains on internet speed since 2016, in line with Duterte’s July order for local telecommunications providers Smart and Globe to improve their services.
However, Cordoba added that telco firms still have to contend with resistance among certain barangays or subdivisions to allow a cell site to be located in their area despite the fact it would significantly boost network services.
Citing data from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index, connectivity for fixed broadband became faster to average 28.69 Megabits per second (Mbps) as of November, coming from a low base of 7.91 Mbps in July 2016. For mobile internet, connections also improved to 18.49 Mbps from just 7.44 Mbps since the start of Duterte’s term.
Duterte slammed Smart Communications and Globe Telecom during his fifth State of the Nation Address, threatening to take over their operations if there are no improvements by year-end.
To improve internet services, Cordoba said the government should also consider funding the rollout of telecom infrastructure, citing the practice in other countries that treat these platforms like physical roads.
Cordoba also noted that Smart and Globe have both started investing heavily in their infrastructure since 2018, or around the time when the government started the bidding process for the third telco player in the country.
Dennis Uy’s Dito Telecommunity was awarded the Certificate of Public Convenience in July 2019, although its scheduled rollout to retail customers has been pushed back to March next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
