By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
LAOAG CITY—Ilocos netizens here are eagerly awaiting the entry of a third telecom player, which they expect to break duopoly of communication firms in the country.
This is one of the good news Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque shared in his recent visit to Laoag as he reported that they have discussed in a cabinet meeting the improvement of the country’s internet connectivity.
Like in most parts of the country, residents here have been complaining a lot about the poor internet service provided by the two telecom firms.
“I hope the new telco challenger will compete against the two big players in the industry and ensure no consolidation,” said Roger dela Cruz, an information technology graduate from San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.
In social networking sites, rants about crawling internet connectivity both from private and public consumers are a common status posts in the Philippines, having the lowest internet speed in Asia Pacific.
“We are at a point in life when it would be more efficient and productive to travel to Vietnam and sit and work outside a hotel with free public wi-fi than to depend on this country’s connectivity,” said Mizpah Grace Castro of Laoag City as she underscored “reliable internet is a basic service and not a luxury.”
While in Laoag City, Mr. Roque said in a press conference the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is set to establish a national broadband in support to building a reliable telco infrastructure.
Under the government’s watch, Mr. Roque said the DICT has on-going contract with Facebook building a bypass facility in Baler, Aurora and in Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union.
Once completed, the government will get two terabits per second of the international bandwidth “free of charge” which means more installation of public wi-fi with better access across the country.
“The right to have internet access is now recognized as an economic social cultural right. So, we are tapping other infrastructure para mapapabilis at mapaparami ang internet,” Mr. Roque said.