Scott Minehane, an Australia-based international regulatory and strategy lawyer, said the Philippines has the same amount of spectrum as other countries, but it is up to the country to take full advantage and harness its possibilities.
House ICT committee chair and Navotas City representative Tobias Reynald Tiangco said the country's large number of prepaid mobile subscriptions provides opportunities for nefarious individuals, as well as criminal acts for terrorists and insurgents.
The measure, authored by House deputy speaker Michael Romero and ICT committee chair Victor Yap, seeks to address the data privacy challenges and cross-border data processing concerns in the country.
At a virtual hearing conducted by the House ICT committee on Friday, Nov. 27, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) sought the help of Congress to require gated subdivisions to provide utility areas for telco infrastructure such as cell towers.
At an online hearing, House ICT committee chair Victor Yap said there is also a need to specify a neutral agency that would determine the measurement of Internet speed in the country.
With Congress adjourning its session on Friday, June 5, an alliance of civil society groups has called on the immediate passage of the long-delayed Open Access bill once the legislature resumes work in July.
The DICT reported that it has already tested 158 dark fiber segments of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and completed construction of the cable landing stations at Baler Aurora and Poro Point, La Union.
Tarlac second district representative Victor Yap has filed 30 bills, most of them concerning the ICT sector, during the first day of filing of bills for the 18th Congress.
