Senators tell gov't: Compel telcos to provide APEC-speed internet

Senators on Tuesday asked the government to come up with rules, forcing telecommunications companies to provide faster and cheaper internet service in the Philippines.

 

Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said the public should also enjoy the 8.5-gigabytes per second of internet and voice connectivity provided by PLDT at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit venues last week.

 

“Now, if only the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) could come up with new guidelines on acceptable speed and cost that telcos are duty-bound to follow, then reliable Internet service will be a norm here in the country and not just for special occasions like the APEC,” he said.

 

Sen. Vicente "Tito" Sotto III agreed that the government should move in favor of internet consumers.

 

"Kasi tinitipid tayo 'pag tayo na lang, cheap lang ang equipment and system (na ginagamit)," Sotto said.

 

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, meanwhile, also urged the government to work for faster and cheaper internet service for the people.

 

"It’s one of the game changing things which the government and private sector should work towards, along side easing red tape and reforms in the tax system," Angara said in a text message to GMA News Online. 

 

The PLDT announced that it boosted up to 100 megabytes per second (mbps) the wi-fi services in the hotels where the delegates stayed during the summit.

 

Escudero has been urging the NTC to conduct an audit to assess the coverage and quality of service of telcos in the country so the regulatory body can come up with rules on acceptable speed and cost of internet in the country.

 

“We can only determine the gravity of the problem of slow Internet connection in the country through an audit conducted by the NTC. The results will become the basis for the guidelines that telcos are duty-bound to follow,” Escudero said.

 

He said the new guidelines should compel the telcos to invest in infrastructure and technologies development so they can deliver faster data connection to their subscribers.

 

The senator said the problem of slow internet speed and service in the Philippines could be easily addressed if telcos are forced by law to provide better network infrastructure.

 

The latest household download index report by global Internet provider Ookla ranked the Philippines 21st out of 22 countries in Asia in terms of internet speed, trailed only by war-torn Afghanistan.

 

The Philippines has a household download speed of 3.64 mbps while top-ranked Singapore has a broadband speed of 122.43 mbps and Hong Kong clocked in with 102.96 mbps.

 

The country also has one of the most expensive internet services in the world. —ALG, GMA News