MANILA – The public may experience better telecommunications services by 2020 once the third major telecommunications player and other government initiatives are put in place, an official said recently.
In a press briefing, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) officer-in-charge Eliseo Rio said the process of choosing the country’s third telco player may begin soon as the selection method has been identified.
He said the terms of reference could be published by the first week of August, signaling the start of the selection process.
“By 2020, we will have the third telco, the national broadband network, and the Facebook link and Bypass. That year we will all feel better telecommunications services,” Rio said.
Selected firms will be given 90 days to form a consortium while the third telco could be in “actual operations” by 2019, he said.
The Highest Committed Level of Service (HCLoS) method won over the “spectrum method” as the basis of choosing the next major telco player, Rio said.
Under the HCLoS selection method, the company that promises to provide the best service to the widest number of subscribers and customers in the shortest time possible will be chosen as the new major player.
Rio said the government will review the outdated 1998 spectrum user fees to address the issue of “just compensation” for the use of frequencies raised by the Department of Finance. The review of user fees may be out in August.
The DICT has also tapped the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to resolve other redistribution issues by next week.
Meanwhile, the DICT, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) signed an agreement in June for the National Broadband Plan.
Under the agreement, the DICT will utilize Transco’s reserved optical fiber to distribute connectivity from Luzon to Mindanao using submarine cables laid down by Facebook from US to Asia.
Government announced its partnership with Facebook in 2017, under which the social media giant will be given access to the government-built Luzon Bypass cable landing in exchange for “a spectrum equivalent to 2 million mbps.” (ABS-CBN News)
