Reform program for telecoms pushed

The Philippines must develop and institute in the soonest possible time a new program of reforms that will lead to fundamental changes in the policy framework governing the telecommunications services sector.

These reforms must also lead to significant improvements in its legal and regulatory environment and must strengthen even further the sector’s competitive structure.

With developments in information and communications technology (ICT) and the fast growing use of the Internet, new reforms for this sector have become imperative.

Without these reforms, the nation’s aspirations for economic growth and social progress may be hindered. Whatever gains that may have already been achieved can be lost.

The world is quickly shifting to the new digitally networked economic order where connectivity and access to information are the critical keys to success.

The Philippines cannot afford to be left behind by other nations and economies and see its competitiveness in both local and global markets affected adversely.

Telecommunications consultant Cesar Castro, president and principal consultant of CD Castro Consultancy Inc. (CDCCI), stressed these points in a speech he delivered during the 2006 Pacific Telecommunications Conference (PTC), an annual gathering of telecoms leaders and ICT experts from all over the world.

His paper, entitled "Connecting Filipinos and the Philippines to the Rest of the World," was one of the country case studies presented at the conference held recently at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Castro said one of the priorities of the reform program must be the strengthening of the nation’s regulatory body for telecoms and ICT, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Another priority must be the passage of a new law to replace Republic Act 7925, the law that now governs the development of telecoms and the provisioning of public communications service in the Philippines.

Castro stressed that the new law should embody anti-trust provisions to assure the protection of all the sector’s stakeholders.

He said a new reform program, similar to what was started in 1986 right after the People Power revolution, should now be planned and implemented in the soonest possible time so that significant improvements and more fundamental changes in the sector can be achieved sooner than later.

Castro’s 2006 PTC presentation focused on the successful experience of the Philippines in liberalizing and restructuring its telecom services sector.

According to him, the Philippines, under this reform program, was able to introduce a new competition policy that has benefited the public.

He cited the dramatic increase in the country’s telephone density (number of telephones, fixed and cellular, in the country per 100 inhabitants) from 1.51 in 1981 to more than 45, as estimated teledensity, in 2005.

Despite this already impressive performance by the Philippines, other countries in the region have attained more over the same period.

Castro recalled that while those reforms were initiated in 1986, they started to manifest significant changes and real improvements in the environment only after about a decade of relentless work and with government and the private sector working very closely together.

In his presentation, Castro also presented his proposed roadmap toward the accelerated and rationalized building of the nation’s digital infrastructure.

He referred to this IP-based infrastructure as the new "logical backbone" of the nation’s economy.

As one of the private sector leaders who had actively participated in the reform program in the mid- to late-eighties, Castro said the active and full participation of the private sector, the engine of development, is still a basic requirement for success.

The government, he emphasized, must not just let the private sector carriers plan and implement on their own nor should it invest in and build the needed infrastructure.

Instead, he said the government must take the lead role in the development of a master plan for the building by the private carriers of the next-generation and broadband access networks needed to ensure cost-efficient connectivity to all Filipinos, regardless of where they are, who they are, and who they need to reach and communicate with.

Castro said this is necessary so the plans and projects of the different telecoms carriers in the country can be further rationalized and their building processes significantly accelerated.

At the same time, the atmosphere of healthy and efficient competition among the carriers must be maintained and even enhanced.

He warned that the Philippines may soon be reaching a point where its national leaders and policy-makers may already take the position that with almost half of the population either owning or, at least, able to access telephones, fixed or mobile, new reforms in the telecom services sector are no longer needed.

Castro was one of the private sector leaders who actively participated in the first round of reforms that started right after the People Power revolution.

He was the president of the industry association, the Philippine Electronics and Telecommunications Federation (PETEF), for three consecutive terms.

He sat in the Cabinet-level National Telecommunications Development Council (NTDC) where the first reform program was first discussed and later developed.

In the late-nineties, he led the group that worked on and completed the policy framework plan for the Philippine Information Infrastructure (PII).