DICT, NTC urge DPWH to amend right-of-way policy to fast-track ICT infra rollout

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and its attached agency, the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), are urging the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to study the feasibility of amending the rules on right-of-way to fast-track the rollout of ICT infrastructure.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DICT said the agency together with the NTC wrote to the DPWH to consider amending its Department Order (DO) 73, s. 2014, which provides for right-of-way rules and regulations.

The DPWH DO currently prohibits “posts and towers of Electric Cooperatives and Major Electric Power Distribution; distribution lines; posts for cable of phones and mobile service providers” along all national roads.

The DICT said such prohibition results in difficulties for public telecommunication entities as they proceed with the implementation of their roll-out plans for critical backbone and last mile connectivity.

In its letter dated September 21, 2020 to DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, the DICT and NTC recall their joint commitment under the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed during the First Philippine Telecoms Summit on May 08, 2017, wherein the agencies agreed to amend or revise D.O. 73, s. 2014 to institute more conducive right-of-way regulations to accelerate the deployment of ICT infrastructure.

Following this MOA signing, the DPWH held various technical working group (TWG) meetings with representatives from the DICT, NTC, telcos, cable operators as well as other stakeholders.

Proposed amendments to D.O. 73 are also highlighted as one of the priorities of the recently established Telecommunications Monitoring Group (TMG), an inter-agency body comprised of members from the DICT, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP).

“The indispensable use not just of telecommunications, but also of the Internet and other information services in the new normal, highlights the urgent need for equitable access to affordable, quality and reliable ICT connectivity,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.

“This will only be possible through the accelerated rollout of ICT networks and infrastructure, so our priority is to develop enabling policies that address the private sectors’ complaints against red tape that serve as a cause of delay in the rollout of infrastructure for both telecommunicatìons as well as information services,” Honasan added.—AOL, GMA News