BMI: PH ‘fiberization’ to attract ICT investments

A government-led initiative aimed at enhancing broadband infrastructure and cybersecurity nationwide is expected to help the Philippines catch up with regional peers in attracting investments in the local ICT sector, according to BMI Research.

In a report, the unit of the Fitch Group highlighted the “upsides” of the Philippines Digital Infrastructure Project (PDIP)—a strategic state initiative to boost last-mile rollouts of fiber-optic infrastructure.

In June, the PDIP, a P16.1-billion project financed by the World Bank, received the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board, which is chaired by President Marcos.

The PDIP would involve the construction of a public broadband infrastructure network to bring connectivity to remote areas of the archipelago.

“Adoption of fiber broadband at the household level remains extremely challenging in the Philippines, and the PDIP may only provide marginal upsides to our outlook,” the Fitch unit said.

“Regardless, wider digital transformation ambitions and the attractiveness of the Philippines’ ICT market are set to benefit from a stronger nationwide backbone and last-mile network density,” it added.

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BMI said the main obstacle to larger fiber uptake in the country remained the prices of packages offered by providers in remote areas, where rollout could be expensive.

Specifically, BMI said its expectations were reflective of a “consistent” uptake for household-level fiber broadband only in metropolitan and suburban areas, where disposable income was highest and churn rates lowest. —Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral INQ