DICT: Duterte admin will not ease pressure on telcos

Philippine telcos should expect to continue dealing with pressure from the government, the Department of Information and Communications (DICT) said as Filipinos still clamor for better services.

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DICT says PH govt will still push for improved services

During a press briefing recently, DICT Assistant Secretary Emmanuel R. Caintic said the Duterte admin sees "no reason" to stop demanding improved telco services.

Caintic, however, acknowledged that telco players need help from the government.

But at the same time, we should do our best, as government also, to alleviate problems with the permits, Caintic said.

Existing telcos Globe and PLDT have long asked for the government's assistance to remove the red tape in the industry.

As part of the Ease of Doing Business Act or the Republic Act 11032, the government has cut the processing of securing permits for the deployment of towers. It also opened the sector to common tower builders.

President's Spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr., in the same briefing, said that data from Ookla showed the country's mobile download speeds improved by 202.4 percent between July 2016 and December 2020.

Average mobile download speeds hit 22.50 megabits per second (Mbps) last month, from 7.44 Mbps from July 2016.

Fixed broadband speeds, meanwhile, also surged by 297.47 percent during the same period—from July 2016's 7.91 Mbps to 31.44 Mbps in December.

Source: BusinessWorld