SEN. Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, who chairs his chamber’s committee on science and technology, said legislation is currently being considered to open telecommunications and data transmission services to foreign companies.
Mr. Aquino said on Monday, after the joint committee hearing on Senate Bill (SB) No. 171 and House Bill No. 6557 or the Open Access in Data Transmission Act, that allowing foreign companies to invest in the telecommunications and data services sector will “improve the price and the quality of the Internet.”
“We are tackling the Public Service Act to allow the foreign players. They can come in, but they need a local partner because there are restrictions. Let’s say they want to enter, but getting a permit or franchise takes a long process. Other players may find it difficult. What we want is that whether you are a local or a foreign company with a local partner, joining the market should be easier so we can say that real competition takes place,” Mr. Aquino said.
In SB 695 seeking to amend the Public Service Act, Mr. Aquino, the bill’s author, said his intention was to “update the coverage of public utilities or public services, reserving it to business activities exhibiting the simultaneous characteristics of natural monopoly and vital public necessity, and to ensure that every Filipino has access to the best quality, value-for-money essential services that effective competition can provide.”
Mr. Aquino also noted that the mobile data in the Philippines is “slow” and “expensive.”
Asked how the legislation would affect the price of the Internet in the Philippine market, Mr. Aquino said: “It’s hard to give an exact price at this point, but in any industry competition brings down prices, as it did in the airline industry.”
Meanwhile, SB 171 or the Open Access in Data Transmission bill, “sets the regulatory framework to promote effective data transmission, taking into account the ever-changing nature of technology.”
This bill also aims to “bolster the powers of the National Telecommunications Commission to create a healthy environment for the development and growth of data networks and their associated industries to improve access to information for every Filipino.” — Arjay L. Balinbin
