Arroyo warns government vs reviving NBN project

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Joker Arroyo warned the Aquino administration yesterday against plans to revive the national broadband network (NBN), saying the government should never again involve itself in putting up a telecoms system because of past ex­perience.

Arroyo cited his two separate concurring and dissenting opinions in the ZTE committee report, which become relevant in view of the statement of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad that the Cabinet will have the final say on the proposal to establish a government NBN.

“In a word, the government will not put out money. It will just subscribe to private broadband operators for connections just like telecommunication connections. That is what advanced countries do,” he said in a statement.

The maverick senator noted that in his dissenting opinion to the ZTE deal in past Congresses, he had declared that the broadband project, which was the subject of the investigation, was doomed to fail from the start.

“Before the imposition of martial law (in 1972), the government implemented a communication project involving a tele­phone system, the Government Telephone System, which was intended to connect the government offices in the entire country. It was a colossal failure and the government maintained it for years even after losing so much money,” Arroyo noted.

He said despite that monumental blunder, Congress (after martial law), as if it had not learned any lesson, enacted in 1989 the Municipal Telephone Act of 1989, RA 6849, again to connect, as the bill stated, the municipal to international, municipal to Metro Manila, municipal to provincial capital, municipal to muni­cipal. 

“It was later expanded to connect to the barangays. That is why it was labeled as the Telepono sa Barangay later on. That folly, like the failed one before it, cost the government billions before the government abandoned it. This too was referred for investigation under P. S. Resolution No. 528 in the 13th Congress, (the first Congress after martial law),” said Arroyo, executive secretary during the term of former President Corazon Aquino.

He noted that two projects – Government Telephone System and Telepono sa Barangay – constituted the original sin, which was followed by the aborted ZTE deal during the past administration of now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Why the government ventured into the broadband project remains a mystery. To begin with, government had a terrible track record of failure in two instances, operationally and financially, in putting up telecommunications,” he said.

He said the proponents of the project were really eyeing the financing, $329 million (P16 billion), and “not really on the project itself.”

“What was clear, even during the (ZTE) hearings, was that it would be a lot cheaper for the government were it to just subscribe to broadband connection put up by the private sector instead of installing and operating one itself,” Arroyo added.

Angara: Bidding will ensure success

Meanwhile, Sen. Edgardo Angara said the administration should bid out the proposed creation of a government national broadband network (GBN).

Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, noted that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is currently making an inventory of government assets that can serve as the basis for the network.

“Connecting government through high-speed Internet is clearly a project to look forward to. But once the inventory is finished, private companies should be allowed to not only bid for putting up the necessary infrastructure, but also to maintain, improve and perhaps even innovate on the GBN,” Angara said.

He cited as example the General Services Administration (GSA) Networx, a program that manages the largest set of government contracts for telecommunications in the United States.

Through the GSA Networx, US federal agencies are able to source their information and communications technology (ICT) solutions from private contractors and vendors at competitive prices.

In 2007, GSA Networx awarded significant service contracts to AT&T Corp., Verizon Business Services and Qwest Government Services, Inc.

“ICT transforms very rapidly. For any broadband network to be responsive, it has to be updated continuously. Government should focus on its core governance functions, not on maintaining its own network. Of course, this is not to say that caution should not be exercised in bidding out contract,” Angara said.

He said the present administration cannot afford to have another failed contract like the NBN-ZTE deal during the past Arroyo administration.