EDITORIAL – Reviving the broadband project

Before accusations were hurled under oath about shameless overpricing, bribery attempts and corruption in high places, there was one question that dominated debate over the ZTE controversy: did the government need a national broadband network?

The administration apparently thinks so. A day after President Arroyo informed her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao that she had canceled the broadband deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp., Malacañang clarified that what was scrapped was the corporate deal but the broadband project was still in the pipeline. Romulo Neri, acting chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, tried to clarify a similar point when he faced the Senate on the ZTE deal. As secretary-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, Neri said, he had endorsed the broadband project but not the ZTE contract. Approving a contract, Neri insisted, was beyond the power of the NEDA secretary-general.

Accusations were also hurled at the Senate that about half of the $329-million price tag for the ZTE deal would go to kickbacks. The accusations need solid corroboration, but many people have already jumped to conclusions and believe the charges. Another casualty of the scandal is the Cyber Education project, which has an even higher price tag than the ZTE deal. The ZTE scandal has made it nearly impossible to conduct an intelligent, impartial discussion on whether the government needs a broadband network and an education system that makes intensive use of information technology.

Critics of the two projects point out that while the country can use better IT facilities, the costs quoted for the two projects are too high, especially when technology in this area becomes obsolete very quickly. There are reports that experts in some highly industrialized countries are now looking at new technology for Internet connectivity and IT networking that is markedly different from the system proposed under the ZTE deal. Unless the government wants another major scandal, it should not brush aside such reports. The country already has enough expensive white elephants, with taxpayers bearing the brunt of the burden.