Senate panels push for open access in data transmission
Published Mar 29, 2018 10:40 am
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Updated Mar 29, 2018 10:40 am
By Hannah Torregoza
Just before Congress went on a month-long break, the Senate committees on science and technology and public services pushed for the passage of the bill promoting open access in data transmission—another infrastructure reform expected to help solve poor Internet service problem hounding the country.
(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
Senate Bill No. 1763 or “An Act Promoting Open Access in Data Transmission, providing additional powers to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and for other purposes” is now pending second reading under Committee Report No. 306.
The bill, also known as “Open Access in Data Transmission Act,” is seen to solve the issue “that has been a thorn on the side of many Filipinos for years”, said Senator Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV, one of the authors of the bill.
“It has been around for years since the alarm bells rang on the issue of slow and expensive Internet in the Philippines. In 2014, the Philippines’ Internet speed was found to be lagging behind countries like Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar – this despite having the most expensive Internet in the region,” Aquino said during his sponsorship speech on the bill recently.
“Memes popped up on the Internet comparing our country’s turtle Internet speed with our quicker neighbors, and netizens roared with both frustration and dark comedy,” said Aquino, who also chairs the Senate science and technology panel.
Aquino pointed out that while Congress was bent on providing quick fixes, including clamping down on misleading advertising, brokering the IP Peering Agreement, and encouraging the NTC to come out with guidelines on minimum Internet speeds and to conduct speed testing around the country, “improvements to the country’s Internet services were incremental at best.”
The senator said the Philippine Competition Act, a landmark law passed in the hopes of encouraging healthy competition in the telecommunications sector and other industries in the country, and the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which was mandated to draft the National Broadband Plan supposedly to promote a roadmap to faster Internet connection in the Philippines, were obviously not enough.
“To truly enhance Internet speed and services in the Philippines, we needed to increase competition in the telecommunications industry and improve our local Internet infrastructure. But again, like our Internet issue, these solutions would take time and patience, alongside the hard work of various stakeholders,” he said.
Like the Competition law, Aquino said the bill pushes for more players and healthier competition into different levels of the telecoms arena.
“The Open Access In Data Transmission bill opens up all of these layers, including that of the Internet providers for end users, to more players in the hopes of improving Internet speed and quality while driving prices down,” he said.
“This is achieved by removing barriers to entry, such as the certificate of public convenience, the provisional authority, and the even some congressional requirements for entering the data transmission industry,” he added.
The reform bill also prohibits anti-competitive practices, such as the refusal to plug and play, paid prioritization, throttling, refusal to give information, and anti-competitive cross subsidization, hopefully creating an environment conducive to competition and new entry players.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, co-author of the bill, expressed his support on the measure, saying an open access in data transmission will help narrow down the country’s digital divide, “so that every Filipino everywhere will get the most out of the digital revolution.”
Gatchalian said one reason why Internet data is not cheap in the Philippines is due to the fact data transmission through the Internet is governed by outdated laws and regulations, particularly Republic Act No. 7925 or “The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines.”
This law, he said, was made for basic telecommunications services. “In short, we are using a law, designed to apply to basic telecommunications services which operate as a vertically integrated single network, and we are applying it to the Internet—which thrives in a decentralized, distributed setting where services in different segments, especially in the last mile, can be provided by different entities,” said Gatchalian, chair of the Senate economic affairs committee, in his co-sponsorship speech.
“The result is our current telecommunications system where all segments of the networks are owned and operated by a single entity. As a further consequence, it has become very difficult for independent players, both local and foreign, to participate in the different segments due to a legal and regulatory environment that encourages single operators to own and maintain an entire network,” Gatchalian said.
“This has ultimately resulted in our current situation where the infrastructure for data services could no longer cope with the demand shift from basic telco services to data services,” added the lawmaker.
The bill he said, aims to launch an Open Access Model which will identify the various segments in the data infrastructure, and open up these segments to more and different players without requiring a congressional franchise or a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, or Provisional Authority from the NTC.
Gatchalian said this is more feasible instead of a single entity owning the entire vertically integrated network. The measure, once enacted into law, will also foster competition by opening up the different segments of the market to other players by breaking down regulatory barriers, lowering down the cost of entry, and institutionalizing a technology-neutral policy framework based on openness, transparency, fairness, and a level playing field among service providers at any given segment of the market.
Both senators said passage of the measure would benefit the increasing number of 67 million Filipino end-users, among them local and international corporate or business firms, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), students conducting thesis and research and jobseekers nationwide.
“This administration and the entire nation have long been waiting in anticipation for the entry of new players who will break the duopoly and finally give us the world-class telco services that we envy, and rave about, when we set foot in South Korea, Singapore or Japan, to name a few,” Gatchalian said.
“This is one bill that gives enough space for that new player, to enter any segment of the data infrastructure, provide real competition, and give us the best value for our money,” the senator emphasized.
(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
Senate Bill No. 1763 or “An Act Promoting Open Access in Data Transmission, providing additional powers to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and for other purposes” is now pending second reading under Committee Report No. 306.
The bill, also known as “Open Access in Data Transmission Act,” is seen to solve the issue “that has been a thorn on the side of many Filipinos for years”, said Senator Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV, one of the authors of the bill.
“It has been around for years since the alarm bells rang on the issue of slow and expensive Internet in the Philippines. In 2014, the Philippines’ Internet speed was found to be lagging behind countries like Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar – this despite having the most expensive Internet in the region,” Aquino said during his sponsorship speech on the bill recently.
“Memes popped up on the Internet comparing our country’s turtle Internet speed with our quicker neighbors, and netizens roared with both frustration and dark comedy,” said Aquino, who also chairs the Senate science and technology panel.
Aquino pointed out that while Congress was bent on providing quick fixes, including clamping down on misleading advertising, brokering the IP Peering Agreement, and encouraging the NTC to come out with guidelines on minimum Internet speeds and to conduct speed testing around the country, “improvements to the country’s Internet services were incremental at best.”
The senator said the Philippine Competition Act, a landmark law passed in the hopes of encouraging healthy competition in the telecommunications sector and other industries in the country, and the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which was mandated to draft the National Broadband Plan supposedly to promote a roadmap to faster Internet connection in the Philippines, were obviously not enough.
“To truly enhance Internet speed and services in the Philippines, we needed to increase competition in the telecommunications industry and improve our local Internet infrastructure. But again, like our Internet issue, these solutions would take time and patience, alongside the hard work of various stakeholders,” he said.
Like the Competition law, Aquino said the bill pushes for more players and healthier competition into different levels of the telecoms arena.
“The Open Access In Data Transmission bill opens up all of these layers, including that of the Internet providers for end users, to more players in the hopes of improving Internet speed and quality while driving prices down,” he said.
“This is achieved by removing barriers to entry, such as the certificate of public convenience, the provisional authority, and the even some congressional requirements for entering the data transmission industry,” he added.
The reform bill also prohibits anti-competitive practices, such as the refusal to plug and play, paid prioritization, throttling, refusal to give information, and anti-competitive cross subsidization, hopefully creating an environment conducive to competition and new entry players.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, co-author of the bill, expressed his support on the measure, saying an open access in data transmission will help narrow down the country’s digital divide, “so that every Filipino everywhere will get the most out of the digital revolution.”
Gatchalian said one reason why Internet data is not cheap in the Philippines is due to the fact data transmission through the Internet is governed by outdated laws and regulations, particularly Republic Act No. 7925 or “The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines.”
This law, he said, was made for basic telecommunications services. “In short, we are using a law, designed to apply to basic telecommunications services which operate as a vertically integrated single network, and we are applying it to the Internet—which thrives in a decentralized, distributed setting where services in different segments, especially in the last mile, can be provided by different entities,” said Gatchalian, chair of the Senate economic affairs committee, in his co-sponsorship speech.
“The result is our current telecommunications system where all segments of the networks are owned and operated by a single entity. As a further consequence, it has become very difficult for independent players, both local and foreign, to participate in the different segments due to a legal and regulatory environment that encourages single operators to own and maintain an entire network,” Gatchalian said.
“This has ultimately resulted in our current situation where the infrastructure for data services could no longer cope with the demand shift from basic telco services to data services,” added the lawmaker.
The bill he said, aims to launch an Open Access Model which will identify the various segments in the data infrastructure, and open up these segments to more and different players without requiring a congressional franchise or a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, or Provisional Authority from the NTC.
Gatchalian said this is more feasible instead of a single entity owning the entire vertically integrated network. The measure, once enacted into law, will also foster competition by opening up the different segments of the market to other players by breaking down regulatory barriers, lowering down the cost of entry, and institutionalizing a technology-neutral policy framework based on openness, transparency, fairness, and a level playing field among service providers at any given segment of the market.
Both senators said passage of the measure would benefit the increasing number of 67 million Filipino end-users, among them local and international corporate or business firms, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), students conducting thesis and research and jobseekers nationwide.
“This administration and the entire nation have long been waiting in anticipation for the entry of new players who will break the duopoly and finally give us the world-class telco services that we envy, and rave about, when we set foot in South Korea, Singapore or Japan, to name a few,” Gatchalian said.
“This is one bill that gives enough space for that new player, to enter any segment of the data infrastructure, provide real competition, and give us the best value for our money,” the senator emphasized.