House Deputy Majority Leader Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera is prodding authorities to look into the possible use of the multi-billion peso Spectrum User Fee (SUF) collections to fund infrastructure projects that would improve the country’s Internet speed and connectivity.
SUFs are collected annually from telecommunications companies (telcos) in addition to all existing fees imposed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). According to Herrera, SUF collections stood at almost P6 billion as of Dec. 31, 2019.
“Internet has become an essential commodity given the growing trend of working and studying from home, especially now that people are required to adhere to social distancing and health protocols to contain the spread of coronavirus,” she said in a statement Sunday.
Herrerra noted that because of the community quarantine, more Filipinos are now embracing e-commerce for their groceries and food deliveries via phone apps and electronic payments for their transactions. “People cannot do all these without Internet connection."
The lady solon first made the pitch for tapping SUFs during Tuesday’s House Appropriations Committee briefing on the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said he would coordinate with Herrera and Congress on how the SUF collections can be used in providing faster Internet connection to the public.
The NTC’s revenue collections, including the SUFs collected from telcos Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, are currently being used to fund the Free Wi-Fi in public places program of the DICT. NTC is an attached agency of the DICT.
In 2019, the DICT spent P1.33 billion for the implementation of Republic Act (RA)10929 or the Free Wi-Fi in Public Places Act, which Herrera co-authored in Congress. The law requires public places like hospitals, transport terminals, and government offices to provide free Internet in main congregation points.
Herrera reckoned that the SUF collection is a "huge amount of money" that can be set aside for data-boosting infrastructure.