The Private Sector Advisory Council’s Digital Infrastructure Sector has urged Pres. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to adopt a “One Canal Policy” that would require telecommunications and utility providers to share standardized infrastructure for fiber deployment.
PSAC-Digital Infra presented the proposal during its 10th meeting with Marcos at Malacañang Palace, arguing that a common-conduit system along national roads and public rights-of-way could reduce the cost and time needed to expand broadband networks.
Under the proposal, a canal would be excavated once and shared by qualified operators instead of allowing companies to repeatedly dig up the same roads for separate fiber and utility installations.
The council said the system could also simplify permits for telecommunications providers and local government units, addressing one of the barriers to faster network deployment.
The proposal comes as the government and telecommunications companies seek to extend high-speed internet services beyond major urban centers.
PSAC-Digital Infra recommended prioritizing the connection of rural health units and state universities and colleges to the National Fiber Backbone.
Connecting these institutions could support telemedicine, electronic health records, hospital referrals, research, digital skills training and artificial intelligence development, the council said.
They could also serve as anchor institutions that make last-mile broadband deployment more commercially viable in surrounding communities, including geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
PSAC-Digital Infra also raised the need to strengthen the resilience of the country’s submarine cable infrastructure.
Converge ICT Solutions CEO Dennis Anthony Uy presented a consortium initiative involving Converge, Globe and PLDT to develop a national subsea network with greater redundancy.
The council’s broader recommendations covered cybersecurity and AI infrastructure, including proposals for pre-authorized emergency response protocols during major cyber incidents and the classification of AI models, training datasets and hosting facilities as critical information infrastructure.
“In AI, standing still is falling behind. It is moving so fast that governance, trust, and capability-building must evolve just as quickly,” said Myla Villanueva, PSAC Digital Infrastructure lead and chairperson of MDI Group Holdings Inc.
“The threat landscape changes faster than any policy cycle. What we are proposing is not a fixed set of rules but a standing capability — so that when the next incident comes, and it will, the country is not starting the conversation from behind, but ahead of the problem,” Villanueva said.
