It’ll be interesting to watch how incoming Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II will deal with the slow Internet connectivity in the country.
For most of their existence, the two telco giants Philippine Long Distance Telephone Inc. and Globe Telecom have been unfairly blamed for the country’s slow Internet. Why is it, some wonder, that even with the vast war chest and a gigantic bandwidth at their disposal, Globe and PLDT still cannot provide their subscribers with fast Internet connection?
I have been consistent in pointing out that the main reason for this is two-pronged: The insufficient number of cell sites to distribute the needed signal to speed up Internet connectivity in the country, and the red tape in our bloated government bureaucracy.
Just imagine: China has 1.9 million cell tower sites across the mainland. The United States has 10 tower companies having a combined 106,257 cell sites, with Crown Castle having the most at 40,039, and Phoenix Tower International, which is at the bottom of the list, with only 620.
To date, our two telecom companies have only been able to build 16,000 cell tower sites in more than 30 years of operation, with most of them aging and inoperable while undergoing retrofitting. The DICT is now inviting tower builders and operators to meet the Philippine shortfall of about 50,000 cell towers.
With this in mind, I find it absurd and illogical that there is even this spirited proposal for us to have a common tower policy. We have not even moved forward, and this proposition wants us to take two steps backward. Also, certain provisions in the common tower procedures actually run counter to the open-access scenario that the government wants to push. Aside from the adamant pitch to limit independent tower companies to only two, the guidelines also prohibit telecom firms from building towers near or beside other companies’ towers.
Since the problem is the scarcity of cell towers, the country needs the telecom companies and the viable independent tower companies to build as many towers as they can in the least amount of time in order for more investments to come in. In short, we need an open or unrestricted access to ensure investment and spur industry growth to benefit the public.
This “two-tower company” policy directly contradicts Senate Bill 1763 or the Open Access in Data Transmission Act, which aims to foster competition by opening up different segments of the market to other players in order to break down regulatory barriers, and create an open and level playing field. It is illogical to limit tower companies to two, and prohibit telcos themselves from building towers. This is the exact opposite of open access. The Philippines needs more, not fewer, towers.
Deputy Speaker Prospero Pichay of the First District of Surigao del Sur believes that this proposal is likely to be rejected by lawmakers, citing improved business climate and employment opportunity in allowing more firms to put up cell towers.
The DICT has gone along this pathway to sign up with, at the very least, five firms to build the country’s common telco infrastructure network. On Friday, a fifth tower builder formalized its intent to join a government-led initiative to build shared cell towers in the country.
On Friday, the DICT inked a memorandum of agreement with China Energy Equipment Co. Ltd. that will help the latter enter into commercial agreements with telco clients. Under the MOA, the government offers to provide China Energy with full support in facilitating permits and the use of government assets.
Pichay explains: “If one tower firm invests P100 billion over a seven-year period resulting, still, in a shortfall of how many towers needed to be built, what about five tower companies, both foreign and local, spending altogether a total of P500 billion at P100 billion each? What a windfall will that be for the country, and a much improved Internet service and shorter span of time!”
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” L. Pimentel III said he does not and will not agree to a “stupid proposal.” Sens. Grace Poe and Francis G. Escudero also have the same opinion, with Poe even threatening legal action against the proponent if such policy would be pursued.
In the meantime, the DICT under Acting Secretary Eliseo M. Rio Jr. continues to sign agreements with tower builders, starting with ISON, ECP and ISOC Infrastructures Inc. in December. Memoranda of understanding with Nigeria’s HIS Towers and Malaysia’s Edotco Towers are likewise in the works.
Now, how would Honasan—a former mutineer and Edsa Revolution of 1986 “hero”—fit in all this? He has admitted to be taking a crash course in information technology, having little knowledge about the operations and management of the industry.
Perhaps he should be reminded that, while having more cell towers is the only way for the industry to move forward, government red tape should also be vigorously addressed.
The road to providing excellent Internet service has not been easy for PLDT and Globe, and they are helpless in dealing with bottlenecks in securing the much-needed government permits to offer quality service to their customers.
Prolonged license tenders and corruption on the local government level weigh down the rollout of essential telco infrastructure. For the longest time, telcos have to endure the lengthy method of applying for the ridiculous expanse of certifications that the local government units require. Compared with other countries where digital processing takes only a day, it takes at least 24 stages and close to 100 days to secure a construction permit, and the process is bogged down 10 times more by corruption and inefficiency.
I have written earlier that the telecom companies’ woes start with site acquisition. They have to disabuse the minds of the people in an area they wish to put up their cell sites on that cell towers will negatively affect their health. Should a telecom firm succeed in getting the right location and securing the approval of its owner, there are still the neighbors in the vicinity to contend with, and the right-of-way problem is often laden with graft. The nightmare doesn’t stop there. In a perfect world, it takes two years for a single tower to be put up. In the Philippines, where bureaucratic red tape rules, constructing a single tower takes an eternity.
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