Senior Deputy Minority Floor Leader Paul Daza is oozing with optimism that the Philippines will have cheaper internet as lawmakers were able to secure vital commitments from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The House of Representatives has approved the DICT’s budget of P7.23 billion for 2023, which is higher than its P6.4-billion budget this year.
This includes P6.25 billion for the Office of the Secretary, P347.67 million for the cybercrime investigation and coordination center (CICC), P200.18 million for the National Privacy Commission, and P438.77 million for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
Daza, representative of Northern Samar’s first district, asked DICT budget sponsor, Makati 2nd District Rep. Luis Campos, Jr., and opened up the discussion on the Spectrum User Fees (SUF) during the Monday, Sept. 26 plenary deliberation.
The lawmaker cited two old circulars from the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) aligned with the SUF that are hindering the growth of telcos.
The first of these NTC circulars, MC 10-10-1997, imposes charges or fees to access frequencies. This also covered rarely used unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum frequencies.
“These are not the frequencies used by Globe, Smart, and the big players. These are just Wi-Fi similar to those used at home,” Daza noted.
He said that these “unnecessary” fees keep smaller players from being able to implement Wi-Fi Internet services in underserved areas.
Upon questioning the NTC, Daza learned about the earnings from SUFs of the unlicensed Wi-Fi frequencies is pegged at P250,000 annually.
The lawmaker pointed out that forgoing these “meager” profit from the frequencies by waiving the SUF would empower more entrepreneurs and tech companies to provide these cheaper Wi-Fi internet services.
“With one decision by the DICT , we would be helping big telcos, small telcos, and small businesses to be able to put up cheaper and more accessible internet ,” he said.
“After conferring with the NTC and DICT, they are amenable to the proposal to do away with these fees,” Campos replied, “all without prejudice to the NTC revisiting the setup as technology evolves,” he furthered.
The other circular, MC 02-05-2008, was also cited by Daza for imposing fees on so-called Value Added Services (VAS), such as SMS, Email, Fax, and other telecom servicesZ
Such circular, he claimed also impeded many potential small telecom players from investing into the industry.
Speaking on behalf of the DICT, Campos committed that the department and its attached agencies will review the circulars and further requested Daza to guide the concerned departments.
Daza is looking at DICT’s assurance on a positive note.
“No less than the President will be happy when submits an executive report to him. It will empower small- and mid-sized players, and big players. And it would generate more revenues for the Philippines. Ultimately, the poor areas would get access to cheaper internet,” he concluded.