The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has stressed that pro-competitive policies and regulations in the digital markets are key to ensuring that affordable, high-quality digital services and products are available to Filipino consumers and businesses.
NEDA secretary Arsenio Balisacan told a recent workshop on Fostering Digitalization through the National Competition Policy (NCP) that digitalization is one of the cross-cutting strategies identified by the current administration under its Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.
The NEDA chief also emphasized the significant role of digitalization in facilitating the flourishing of the services ecosystem, which is expected to spur improvements in productivity throughout the economy, leading to the multiplication of economic and social opportunities.
“Such technologies are crucial toward enabling Filipino individuals and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly the poor and those in geographically isolated areas, to access broader markets and opportunities in healthcare, education, finance, agriculture, and in many other sectors,” Balisacan said.
Balisacan said he is optimistic that the workshop would lead to action and turn the ICT sector into an engine of growth and dynamism towards achieving economic and social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society.
Last June 7, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) conducted impact assessments on policies that affect competition in digital terrestrial television broadcasts, construction of common telecommunication towers, cloud services, and value-added services.
The NCP provides a framework for government agencies to formulate and adopt pro-competitive policies, rules and regulations to avoid competition distortions and an uneven playing field for businesses.
