Gadget vendors seek infra support from government

CEBU, Philippines - While there is no doubt that Filipinos are more than willing to keep up with what’s new in the market in terms of technology, gadget retailers are calling for complementary support from the government.

Junrex Cellphones & Accessories Inc., chief executive officer Jun Yap called the attention of the government to make the Philippine conducive for technology usage, as connectivity is yet to be globally competitive.

He said although this may seem the responsibility of the telecommunication companies, it is imperative that a definite program to support local players be put in place.    

"We’re supposed to be advanced in connectivity. But Internet connection/wifi is still very slow and also very expensive compared to other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan," said Yap, who is also the past president of the Philippine Retailers Association-Cebu Chapter.

This condition he said would not only discourage consumers to get or use updated gadgets, but will also disappoint technology-related investors to come and consider the Philippines as investment site.

The government, he said could provide a standard for telecom companies in their connectivity services, and make Internet connection much faster.

Although, telecom giants like Smart Communications, and Globe Telecom already drafted a masterplan to "blanket" the Philippines with LTE (Long Term Evolution), Yap said the consumers are already demanding for it.

Yap believes that gadget update, software availability, should be well supported by conducive infrastructure for usage.

Recently, the government announced the allocation of P878.5 million for the development of Information Communication Technology in the country.

Budget secretary Florencio Abad said that the budget will be spent to pump prime the iGovPhil project.

"Our continued investments in high-impact ICT programs are central to the Aquino administration's good governance agenda. We remain continued to harnessing technology and developing relevant mechanisms to improve the way government agencies work with each other. Data security won’t be an issue, since we'll be using common application systems across the bureaucracy," said Abad.

The iGovPhil is one of the vital parts in the e-Government Master Plan of 2013-2016, which aims to maximize the use of ICT resources through shared ICT infrastructure, services, and applications for national government agencies.

iGovPhil has a total project cost of P2.53 billion implemented from 2012 to 2016. DBM has previously released P164.6 million to ICTO in 2012 for the first phase of the project. (FREEMAN)