February 13, 2012

Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), said on Monday that the government prefers to start on a clean slate when it enters into a new contract to develop and manage the integrated DOTC-LTO-LTFRB Information System project sometime next year.

Roxas

“Today, about a year prior to the expiration of the existing contract with Stradcom, we are announcing that pursuant to Section 4.1 of the contract, the DOTC will not exercise its exclusive option to extend the said contract,” Roxas said.

“The DOTC will be bidding out a new contract for the IT services of the DOTC-LTO-LTFRB shortly.”

The new bidding will be awarded six months prior…

As part of its report for the Asean region, research firm IDC said the Philippines must “step up” its efforts to transform the existing IT-BPO industry for the country.

While the country is generally regarded as among the most cost competitive destinations for IT-BPO services, IDC noted that “it is also clear that there are bottlenecks around safety and labor pool sustainability.”

Factors that are threatening the nation’s IT-BPO industry, IDC said, include more competitive environment for voice and non-voice services coming from India and other emerging destinations, the stigma about being only known as a voice-centric hub, and the lack of distinguishing branding against India and near-shore geographies.

“To compete successfully…

The Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (Comste) said it is currently spearheading a cloud-based collaboration network among local colleges and universities.

Tangonan

The project, according to Comste executive director Greg Tangonan, is intended to unlock the vast but untapped R&D (research and development) potential of tertiary institutions in the country.

The initiative is part of Comste’s innovation cluster strategy which it has forged with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The agencies involved are working together to draft master R&D plans for innovation clusters in the following areas: 1) Algae research and commercialization; 2) Smart agriculture and precision farming; 3)…

A member of the Senate said the creation of the proposed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would be helpful in managing the country’s broadband network.

Angara during the recent Senate hearing on the DICT bill

Senator Edgardo Angara cited the United States’ General Services Administration (GSA) Networx, a program that manages the largest set of government contracts for American telecommunications.

US federal agencies are able to source their information and communications technology (ICT) solutions from private contractors and vendors at competitive prices through GSA Networx, which awarded service contracts to AT&T Corp., Verizon Business Services and Qwest Government Services Inc.

“The broadband network is one of the country’s most important assets….

A new report from digital ad network Effective Measure has released data reporting on the significance of the large market share of South East Asia’s (SEA) Internet audience who are in romantic relationships to Valentine’s Day.

The data showed 49.2 percent of the overall SEA Internet audience are either married (41.4 percent) or in live-in relationships (7.7 percent) in the month of January and presented an opportunity for targeted online engagement over this celebrated season of love.

73.1 million Internet users, attributing to 49.2 percent of the SEA online population, are either married or in a live-in relationship in the month ending January 2012.

Malaysia had the greatest market share with 53.0…