The Internet is not considered a basic service in the Philippines, instead it is a value-added service, thus it cannot be regulated.
After the Senate hearing on the slow and expensive Internet connection in the Philippines, Senate trade committee chairman Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV told the press that the Public Service Act, which is a 1936 law, needs to be amended to make the Internet a basic service. “We’re [now in the] high-tech information age and we’re still using a 1936 law.”
The Senator went on to say that, currently, the National Telecommunications Commission cannot regulate the cost and speed of Internet in the country, which happens to be the slowest in Southeast Asia, because it is not a basic service.
“It is already recognized as a human right and if we make it a basic service, we could at least study how more Filipinos can access the Internet at the right cost and at the right service level.”
Aquino said the Technical Working Group will tackle this issue more in detail. “Every quarter we can have this hearing and make sure that we get closer to affordable and quality Internet for our country.”
Aquino noted that the goal of the Philippine Digital Strategy, which was formulated by the Department of Science and Technology in 2010, is to give 80% of Filipinos Internet access and at a minimum speed of 2Mbps by 2016.
“According to the private sector and the NTC, it looks like we will be able to reach the 80% by 2016,” said the legislator.
The lawmaker also revealed that during the hearing, telecommunications companies complained about the arbitrary charges of local government units. “There are some LGUs who will charge a really high amount, while others will charge less, so they are having difficulty rolling out their services.”
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto is urging government to mandate Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom companies to increase the minimum speed of their Internet service to 10 Mbps (megabits per second) from the current 3.4 Mbps.
Recto said with 3.4 Mbps, the country has the slowest Internet speed in South East Asia followed by Indonesia with 4.1 Mbps, Malaysia at 5.5 Mbps, with Singapore as being the fastest in the ASEAN region with a lightning Internet speed of 61.0 Mbps.
