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AFP chief Gapay wants guidelines, IRR on co-location agreement between military, telcos upgraded


To keep up with the technology, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Gilbert Gapay has ordered the updating of guidelines and crafting of implementing rules and regulations on the agreements between the military and telecommunication firms.

Military spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo said the changes in the communications environment and infrastructure prompted the AFP chief to order an upgrade on the guidelines which was crafted in 2006.

“Inutos ng ating AFP chief of staff General Gilbert Gapay ang pag-update ng ating kasalukuyang umiiral na guidelines for the implementation of memoranda of agreement between the AFP and these telcos,” Arevalo said in a virtual press briefing.

“Kailangan natin itong i-update sapagkat ito ay nabuo nung 2006 pa, so napakarami nang pagbabago sa communications environment na kailangan nating isagawa, kailangan nating iakma ang kasalukuyan nating umiiral na guidelines sa implementation ng memoranda,” he added.

He said when the guidelines was crafted, the technology was still partly analog.

“Dati rati may analog pa tayo, ngayon digital na and not only fully digital, may 4G na at kung magkakaroon ng pagbabago from what I understand is being offered by DITO telecommunity, 5G 'yung technology na gusto nilang i-offer sa mga subscriber,” he said.

“Kung merong 113 million subscribers ng cellphone sa buong Pilipinas e kailangan i-upgrade pa natin ang guidelines,” he added.

Arevalo said he cannot say yet the specific changes in the IRR but advances in technology will definitely be taken into consideration.

“Dati rati pwedeng widely dispersed o pwedeng isang tower o cellsite sa isang broad location, ngayon sa pagtaas ng teknolohiya mula sa 2G, naging 3G, hanggang naging 4G e mas kinailangan na mas magkakalapit na ang cellsites ng telco,” he said.

“Itong mga naging pagbabagong ito definitely ay kailangang i-take into account kaya kailangan ng  upgrading ng guidelines on the implementation of memoranda of agreement between the AFP and telcos na nabuo nung 2006,” he reiterated.

AFP has agreements with telecommunication firms Globe and Smart, and recently DITO Telecommunity, to co-locate or host their cellsites.

He said 62 of the 3,000 cellsites of Globe and 31 of the 9,700 cellsites of Smart are inside military camps.

"Hindi lahat ng cellsites nila ay nasa atin. Ito ay bahagi ng pagtulong na ginagawa natin para mabigyan sila ng seguridad dahil ginagamit ng NPA ang panununog at pagpapasabog ng kanilang cellsite sa pangongolekta ng pera," said Arevalo.

National security concerns have been raised against the co-location agreement between AFP and DITO as the latter is a consortium composed of Udenna Corporation and China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), a Chinese state-owned company tasked with building and deploying DITO’s actual telecommunications infrastructure.—AOL, GMA News

 

 

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